Franco-Paredes Carlos, Rodriguez-Morales Alfonso J
Infectious Diseases Clinic, Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital, 507 3rd Avenue, Albany, GA, 31721, USA.
Hospital Infantil de México, Federico Gómez, Mexico D.F., Mexico.
Ann Clin Microbiol Antimicrob. 2016 May 21;15(1):33. doi: 10.1186/s12941-016-0149-x.
Leprosy, a chronic mycobacterial infection caused by Mycobacterium leprae, is an infectious disease that has ravaged human societies throughout millennia. This ancestral pathogen causes disfiguring cutaneous lesions, peripheral nerve injury, ostearticular deformity, limb loss and dysfunction, blindness and stigma. Despite ongoing efforts in interrupting leprosy transmission, large numbers of new cases are persistently identified in many endemic areas. Moreover, at the time of diagnosis, most newly identified cases have considerable neurologic disability. Many challenges remain in our understanding of the epidemiology of leprosy including: (a) the precise mode and route of transmission; (b) the socioeconomic, environmental, and behavioral factors that promote its transmission; and
麻风病是一种由麻风分枝杆菌引起的慢性分枝杆菌感染，是一种数千年来一直肆虐人类社会的传染病。这种古老的病原体可导致毁容性皮肤病变、周围神经损伤、骨关节畸形、肢体缺失与功能障碍、失明以及污名化。尽管在阻断麻风病传播方面持续做出努力，但在许多流行地区仍不断发现大量新病例。此外，在诊断时，大多数新确诊病例都有相当严重的神经功能残疾。在我们对麻风病流行病学的认识方面仍存在许多挑战，包括：（a）精确的传播方式和途径；（b）促进其传播的社会经济、环境和行为因素；以及
