More than a hundred citizens joined, yesterday, the campaign to screen for leprosy and other skin diseases at the Municipal Hospital of Cazenga, organized by the Order of Doctors of Angola. The spokesperson for the activity, Luvualu Ndongala, said that two suspected leprosy cases stand out among the cases that were referred to the Tuberculosis and Leprosy Dispensary at Shabá, Prenda, for proper follow-up after registration.
He explained that they are adults, between 44 and 52 years old, and one, from the province of Malanje, presents a clinical picture of the appearance of blisters on the body for more than two years and with ulceration at the level of the lower limbs. While the other, from Luanda, has dislocations in his upper limbs. For this purpose, they should confirm the disease with tests and, depending on the result, begin treatment.
On the other hand, Luvualu Ndongala referred that most of the children who attended the campaign have atopic dermatitis and skin allergy, having been medicated for that purpose, while most patients have cases of scabies, which is a skin infection caused by mite sarcoptes scabiei and causes lesions. The dermatologist told Angop that they also intend, with the campaign, to carry out a survey on the diseases that mainly affect vulnerable people and that many of them have beliefs and customs of treatment and traditional/homemade procedures.
He mentioned that there is a specific group of diseases that affect these people, and that cause serious deformities, physical and psychological incapacity, even resulting in discrimination, with regard to neglected tropical diseases, whose impact on social life is visible. Luvualu Ndongala pointed out that in addition to leprosy, there are ten other neglected tropical diseases with cutaneous manifestations with an extreme need for an early diagnosis, due to the deformities and disabilities they cause and that some of them are endemic in the country, such as onchocerciasis, lymphatic filariasis, leismaniasis, buruli ulcer, scabies, snake bites or snake bites and mycetoma chromoblastomycosis.
Many of these present symptoms such as itching, spots, nodules or pimples, wounds, pain, increased volume in a certain region of the body, dandruff, thickening of the skin, among others. The spokesperson added that, in order to prevent, one should adhere to deworming and vaccination campaigns, have personal and collective hygiene, avoid going barefoot, if you are a farmer you should wear rubber boots, avoid playing in ponds and ponds, eliminate garbage, stagnant water, take good care of domestic animals and consume treated water. He appealed to citizens to resort to health units whenever they notice any skin lesion and to follow educational lectures to increase health literacy.
