ABSTRACT
A KAP study was conducted in the peri-urban Hlaing and rural Laung-Lon Townships in Myanmar. It was found that both the leprosy patients as well as community members were still not sure about the cause of leprosy. Social stigma of leprosy encountered by patients needs to be addressed especially in peri-urban areas. It was also found that the patient's understanding of treatment regularity was still very unsatisfactory, for which health education measures needs to be introduced.
Subject(s)
Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Child , Female , Health Education , Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice , Humans , Leprosy/therapy , Male , Middle Aged , MyanmarABSTRACT
Since cases of lepra reaction following smallpox vaccination and BCG vaccination had been reported the effect of tetanus immunisation on leprosy patients (whether it may provoke a lepra reaction or not) was studied. Three doses of purified tetanus toxoid (one ml initially, one ml after six weeks and one ml after six months) were given to 357 leprosy patients and 60 patients living in the same environ were followed as controls. The antibody response following immunisation was followed in six lepromatous leprosy patients using toxin antitoxin neutralisation test at the Lf/1000 level in mice and in three of them the antibody titre of leprosy patients rose to satisfactory level. The number of lepra reactions in these patients was monitored for nine months (two months before vaccination, during the six months period of vaccination and one month after the last dose of vaccine). There was no significant rise in the number of patients with reaction following the vaccination.
Subject(s)
Antibodies, Bacterial/biosynthesis , Erythema Nodosum/immunology , Humans , Leprosy/immunology , Leprosy, Lepromatous/immunology , Tetanus Toxoid/immunologyABSTRACT
A study was conducted in a rural community in Burma, to determine how people perceive the importance of food, water and defecation in the causation of diarrhoea and to determine whether people wash hands or use soap after defecation or before preparing and eating food. 90% of mothers with under-five children in the community were interviewed. 53 to 86% of people were aware of the importance of food, water and defecation in the causation of diarrhoea. Although 34 to 88% practised hand washing before eating/food handling or after defecation, only 5 to 12% regularly used soap. Furthermore, drinking water for under-five children was obtained by dipping the drinking mug or cup into the drinking water pot (83%) which could result in contamination of drinking water.