Leprosy future or investigational therapies
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: João André Alves Silva, M.D. [2]
Overview
Future or investigational therapies
Even though the incidence of leprosy has been decreasing throughout the last years, it should not decrease the research efforts to diminish the impact of this condition. It is important to find new, better and cost-effective ways to control the disease's incidence, particularly in endemic countries. For future research studies, major topics to keep in consideration are:
- Integration
- Quality
- Equity
- Sustainability
It is mandatory to identify the patterns of transmission of leprosy to better understand the factors influencing not only the occurrence but also the transmission of the disease, in order to develop better mechanisms for prevention, treatment and management of individual patients, household contacts and populations in general.
Another priority for research is to develop better and more affordable approaches to identify the individual cases in the population at higher risk of contracting the disease, and to provide an early diagnosis of those already infected, in order to minimize the damages inflicted by leprosy in the quality of life of the individuals.
In the case of the treatments already in place, it is important to find better alternatives to provide, in case drugs such as rifampicin are contraindicated either because of toxicity or resistance to the drug. Even though this might not be a major concern of the present, it is a potential issue that could cause a great deal of damage in the future, if no alternative drug was available.
As with all research studies, it is essential that results are communicated to the WHO and available worldwide in order to improve the current knowledge of [[prevention], management and treatment of leprosy patients and at the same time enhance further discoveries, that aim to eradicate leprosy on a worldwide basis.