Montreewasuwat N, Peerapakorn S
Department of Communicable Diseases Control, Ministry of Public Health, Bangkok, Thailand.
Southeast Asian J Trop Med Public Health. 1988 Sep;19(3):515-7.
The prevalence rate of leprosy in Thailand was approximately 5 per 1,000 in 1953. Specialized leprosy control programme was first launched in 1956 in Khon-Kaen Province and gradually expanded to cover the whole country in 1972. After successful control, it has been partially integrated in provincial health services in 1971 and fully integrated into primary health care system in 1976. Effective case finding in combination with chemotherapy using WHO multidrug therapy regimen and health education have brought about a decline in the prevalence of the disease to only 0.537 per 1,000 in 1987. However, the estimated prevalence rate by random survey is approximately twice the number of registered cases. Reduction in number of lepromatous leprosy patients, particularly the new cases, decrease in number of patients with deformities caused by leprosy and increased number of patients who voluntarily came to attend at the treatment centres imply the successful control at a certain level. It is then justified to aim at the goal of eradication of leprosy by combination of chemotherapy, immunotherapy and immunoprophylaxis with antileprosy vaccines in the future.
1953年，泰国麻风病的患病率约为每1000人中有5人。1956年，专门的麻风病防治项目首先在孔敬府启动，并于1972年逐渐扩展至覆盖全国。在成功控制疫情后，该项目于1971年部分融入省级卫生服务体系，并于1976年完全融入初级卫生保健系统。有效的病例发现、采用世界卫生组织多药疗法方案的化疗以及健康教育，使得该疾病的患病率在1987年降至每1000人仅0.537人。然而，通过随机调查估计的患病率约为登记病例数的两倍。瘤型麻风病患者数量的减少，尤其是新病例的减少，因麻风病导致的畸形患者数量的下降，以及自愿前往治疗中心就诊的患者数量的增加，意味着在一定程度上取得了成功控制。因此，未来通过化疗、免疫疗法以及使用抗麻风病疫苗进行免疫预防相结合的方式来实现根除麻风病的目标是合理的。
