Leprosy, a disease ″eradicated″ in Portugal, but with thousands of new cases around the world
The leprosy disease continues to claim victims. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2021, more than 140,000 cases were eliminated, but in Portugal the disease has already been eradicated. This Sunday marks the 70th anniversary of the World Leprosy Day, established by the United Nations.
The first written references to the disease leprosy date back to 1500 BC Considered a divine punishment for a long time, it was only in the 20th century, in the 1940s, that the first medicine was created: the sulfone. However, the definitive cure for leprosy would only arrive from 1980 onwards.
A century earlier, in 1873, the Norwegian physician Gerhard Hansen identified the bacillus responsible for the disease. Despite medical advances and prevention of the disease, which is not hereditary but contagious, according to the WHO, still in 2021, 140,594 new cases were reached in 143 countries, namely, India, Brazil, Indonesia, Democratic Republic of Congo and Mozambique.
In an interview with TSF, Vítor Borges, president of the Portuguese Association Friends of Raoul Follereau (APARF), recalls that this association has existed since 1987 and operates in several countries: Mozambique, Angola, São Tomé and Príncipe and Guinea-Bissau. In addition, it also supports other places, such as Madagascar, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
subscriber newsletter
Vítor Borges adds that in Portugal, “this disease no longer exists”. “It is completely eradicated in Portugal, the few cases that exist do not reach a dozen and are imported from other countries and treated by the National Health Service.”
APARF fights this disease, which still claims thousands of victims around the world, through donations.