Pearson M
Ecol Dis. 1982;1(4):229-36.
Such is the ability of leprosy to generate misconceptions and fears, that many patients are reluctant to be identified. Deformity and paralysis which may occur compound the stigma attached to this rare disease of slow insidious onset. Epidemiological studies of leprosy refer only to known disease and often to highly selected groups of the population. Cohorts are therefore incomplete, and variations in prevalence may reflect social attitudes and data reliability. This paper describes the demographic and spatial distribution of leprosy in Lamjung, a district of west central Nepal. Variations in known leprosy prevalence between sexes, ethnic groups and areas are related to social and physical factors. An apparent paradox of low leprosy prevalence in an ethnic group with a high proportion of infectious leprosy is associated with adverse social attitudes and poor survey coverage. Although the data are too limited for an epidemological analysis variations associated with social and physical factors have crucial implications for disease control.
麻风病极易引发误解和恐惧，以至于许多患者不愿被确诊。可能出现的畸形和瘫痪加剧了这种隐匿性起病的罕见疾病所带来的耻辱感。麻风病的流行病学研究仅针对已知病例，且往往局限于经过高度筛选的人群。因此，队列并不完整，患病率的差异可能反映了社会态度和数据的可靠性。本文描述了尼泊尔中西部拉姆琼地区麻风病的人口统计学和空间分布情况。已知的麻风病患病率在性别、族群和地区之间的差异与社会和自然因素有关。在一个传染性麻风病比例较高的族群中，麻风病患病率却明显较低，这一明显的矛盾与不良的社会态度和调查覆盖率低有关。尽管数据有限，无法进行流行病学分析，但与社会和自然因素相关的差异对疾病控制具有至关重要的意义。
