ABSTRACT
Background: Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae (M. leprae) which mainly attacks the skin and peripheral nerves. Indonesia is the third country with the most leprosy sufferers with 17,202 cases. The Ministry of Health of the Republic of Indonesia reports that the cumulative number of leprosy cases in 2013 in Indonesia was 16,856 cases. Among them is multibacillary-type leprosy. Although Indonesia achieved national elimination of leprosy in June 2000, the number of leprosy sufferers in Indonesia is still quite high. The high number of multibacillary types shows epidemiological problems and serious clinical implications because patients with multibacillary-type leprosy are a source of leprosy transmission and have a higher risk of reaction and disability due to nerve damage. The spread of leprosy in Indonesia is caused by several factors, one of which is related to hygiene behavior related to skin hygiene, hand and nail hygiene, genital hygiene, clothing hygiene, towel hygiene, mattress and bed hygiene that do not meet health requirements.Methods: The objective of this study was to determine the correlation of personal hygiene and the level of transmission of leprosy in Central Jakarta. Primary data is quantitative data obtained directly from respondents through a questionnaire instrument. Presentation and analysis of data is performed through computer using the SPSS 22 for Windows program using statistical analysis. To find out the correlation between personal hygiene and the incidence of leprosy, Chi-Square analysis was used.Results: The analysis found that the p-value was 0.004< ?=0.05 which means that H1 is accepted. It is concluded that there is a significant correlation between personal hygiene and the incidence of leprosy in the Central Jakarta area in 2017.Conclusions: The correlation is that someone who has leprosy has poor personal hygiene. Meanwhile, someone who has good personal hygiene does not suffer from leprosy.