Resurgence of leprosy in post elimination era

Leprosy is a slowly progressive mildly infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae primarily affecting skin and peripheral nerves. After introduction of multidrug therapy in the country recorded leprosy case load has come down. In December 2005, India announced elimination of leprosy as public health problem at national level under the NLEP but new cases are still being registered. Methods: It was a hospital based cross sectional study conducted on over 109 leprosy patients attending a tertiary care hospital in Narhe, Pune during the period from December 2018. The statistical package for Social Sciences (SPSS) for Windows version (16.0) was used to analyze the data (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL). Statistical significance was declared at or mentioned otherwise. Results: Out of 109 patients, 57 were new and 52 were old. Maximum patients belong to age group 40-49 years, 25 patients had type 1 reaction and 18 had type 2 reaction. Out of which 83 were on treatment and 12 are defaulter, 9 were in relapse, 6 patients released from treatment. Conclusions: In post elimination era of leprosy still new cases have been registered and hence the burden and morbidity of the disease is still high in the community. It strongly suggests that by early detection, increasing the duration of treatment and by increasing the community awareness, utilizing information, education and communication at all levels, we can hope to reduce the burden of disease in the community and to achieve the dream of leprosy free India.