[약전약후] Hansen’s disease caused social prejudice… Antibiotics that broke the ‘quarantine’

Even if not many people are looking for it, there is a medicine that is absolutely necessary for treatment. Antibiotics that treat Hansen’s disease, which has been misunderstood as a form of punishment and has been socially prejudiced, are a representative example. ‘Rifampicin’, ‘Dapson’, and ‘Clofazimin’ are considered to be the drugs that broke the social isolation for Hansen’s disease.

Hansen’s disease, which is treated by using these three drugs together, is caused by infection with Mycobacterium leprae, a type of bacteria discovered and named by Norwegian doctor Hansen in 1873.

The route of infection has not yet been clearly identified, but it is known that it is usually transmitted through the respiratory tract. After a latent period of several years to several decades, it causes nerve damage such as loss of sensation in the peripheral nerves of the face, hands, and feet, muscle atrophy, and faded spots with dull skin sensation.

It is famous that the symptoms revealed on the skin and other appearances have raised unfounded fears about Hansen’s disease. Antibiotics such as rifampicin suppress 99% of the excretion of leprosy, but the fear of contagion has created a barrier of social isolation in people’s minds.

It wasn’t until 1967 that a treatment for Hansen’s disease appeared in earnest. Currently, it is difficult to find Hansen’s disease patients in Korea, but this disease has plagued mankind for a long time to the extent that there is a record of the occurrence of Hansen’s disease patients in the Annals of King Sejong in the past.

Rifampicin, an antibiotic with the effect of suppressing leprosy discharge by 99%, was developed by a French pharmaceutical company in the 1950s and began to be used in earnest after 1959. However, due to the development of resistance, it has since become the standard treatment to administer with other drugs such as dapsone and clofazimine.

If you take the medicine for 2 weeks to 2 months with this treatment, you will not pass the disease on to other people. Moreover, although it depends on the patient, it is usually cured by taking the medicine continuously for 5 to 20 years. In addition, transmission of infection through sexual contact or pregnancy does not occur.

However, in the 1950s, it was difficult to supply and produce these drugs, causing social problems. Hansen’s disease patients were stigmatized as contagious patients and had to be isolated from their families and communities.

Raoul Hollero, a French philanthropist who took the lead in eradicating Hansen’s disease, saw the miserable appearance of Hansen’s disease patients while traveling in Africa, and in 1954, he enacted Hansen’s Day through the French parliament with 1.5 million signatures, including world-famous figures.

Korea also participates in this cause and celebrates the last Sunday of January every year as World Leprosy Day. In addition, Hansen’s disease treatments such as dapsone, clofazimine, and rifampicin are designated as national essential drugs, encouraging pharmaceutical companies to stably supply and produce them.

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