I Don't Have Leprosy

But I wish I did.

At least, I wish I could trade it in for the leprosy cousin that I do have.

Why?

Because leprosy is virtually 100% treatable now.

Leprosy is a species of mycobacteria. So is tuberculosis, TB.

When the first information on my skin lumps came back as *granulomatous,* probably infectious, probably mycobacteria, that meant it might actually BE leprosy. Or TB.

Some of the newer strains of TB are very resistant to antibiotics. I really, really, really didn't want to have a TB superbug.

And many of the mycobacteria aren't so good to get, either.

But leprosy? Hey. No prob.

It takes about a year of antibiotics to cure it, and they use at least two antibiotics together. People no longer lose bits of body parts. That was way back in the day.

When there's no treatment at all, nerves die from the disease. The loss of sensation meant people simply couldn't tell they had a cut or a broken fingertip or what have you. A secondary infection would set in, eat the flesh away, and voila. No more fingertip.

That doesn't happen any more. Or it doesn't need to. In some very isolated populations in backwards places, for example, leprosy is still looked upon as a judgement from God. Going to the doctor might get you stoned to death by your neighbors. So losing body bits could still happen there. But that would only be - like back in the past - because they aren't being treated with simple antibiotics.

Leprosy is actually extremely difficult to catch. It's so non-contagious that the medicos now think you must have a genetic susceptibility to get it at all. And, that only around 10% of the population even has the leprosy-susceptible gene.

kdad knows a fellow MD overseas who treats leprosy patients.

When she examines them, she doesn't even bother to wear gloves.

And believe you me, this is not because the lady is stupid or ignorant or careless. She doesn't wear gloves because she knows she doesn't need to.

Just like my Infectious Disease doctor. She doesn't wear gloves either.

She just washes her hands all the time. And never ever catches anything from her patients.

So while I'm really glad I don't have a TB superbug, I'd far prefer leprosy to the Mycobacterium chelonae abscessus I do have. Go ahead, google it all up. You'll see why in a minute.

What I have is an *atypical* mycobacteria. M. chelonae abscessus is extremely hard to catch, just like leprosy, but for different reasons. No one needs to be afraid of my myco unless they're also immunocompromised. Badly immunocompromised, like transplant patients taking anti-rejection drugs. Most people's immune systems fight it off easily.

This, like hundreds of other mycos, is all around us all the time. All y'all reading this may well have it on your skin this very moment, along with staph germs and all that other good stuff you'd rather not know was on your skin.

It's kind of like the sausage thing. You may love to eat it, but not want to know how it's made.

When people like me get this particular species of mycobacteria, it can be pretty hard to kill. The reason? Mother Nature graced it with an unusual characteristic: It's naturally resistant to antibiotics.

Naturally.

It was made that way by nature. My CA MRSA and the TB superbug, among others, were created by mankind: they became resistant to antibiotics because those antibiotics were misused.

I'll be on antibiotics the rest of my life now. At present I'm taking two powerful ones at the same time, cipro and minocycline.

The thing is, they still may not kill this mycobacteria. Often, the antibiotics will work on existing abscesses or infected lymph nodes, like they're working on my older infected nodes. But then, for some reason, the germ is perfectly willing and able to move downstream and infect another node. Even in the presence of these powerful medicines. Strange but true. And...often enough, it likes to head for one's lungs.

Possibly as in: k gets weird lung infection and has to go to the Icky Place, which said Icky Place keeps her for 3 days, orders a bronchoscopy to see what's really going on in there - and then, maybe because she's a CA MRSA carrier, and a charity patient and bronchoscopies are expensive, and they're out of beds - well, they kick her loose. They tell her to be sure to get that bronchoscopy done right away. At some other hospital, please, not here at Holy Cross.

The blood tests show it's NOT aspergillus, which is what it looked like. That would have been Not Good.

OTOH...if the myco is in my lungs now? That's most definitely Not Good as well.

I'm thinking about all this not just because of the recent developments about my arm, but because Bane posted a link to an article about leprosy that, unfortunately, was higher on fear factor than on certain of its facts.

Hear this: I was glad to see the link and article. Very. I really like to see information about these diseases out there. I very much want us all to be smarter and safer. Wash your hands. Don't misuse antibiotics. ESPECIALLY don't take them for a virus (like a cold or flu), or for allergies. When you get a bacterial infection, go to your doctor, DO use the antibiotics as prescribed, and finish your bottle like good boys and girls. Keep your diabetes under control too.

This particular article described leprosy as *highly contagious.* This is extremely far from the truth. Quite the opposite: it's so difficult to catch, it's likely that only 10% of people can catch it at all. Those 10%'ers must be exposed to it for a very long time, say in extremely crowded living quarters for years and years, to catch it at all.

Of course I don't like the idea of illegal aliens bringing leprosy here. But just like the bubonic plague, it already WAS here. Leprosy is endemic in California, Texas, Louisiana, and Florida. The last leper colony in America, Carville, is in Louisiana. It moved from Carville to Baton Rouge a few years ago and it's still there today.

Lepers don't actually need to be isolated any more, of course. It's just that some of them would rather hang with their own kind during the recovery period. They stop being contagious at all after a month or so of antibiotics, and are cured after about a year of them. In the meantime, they often like to stay away from the general, not-leper public.

Cause who wants to be treated like a leper?

Except for me.