By R. G. Antonet Go/PNA
ZAMBOANGA CITY — The Department of Health in Region 9 (DOH-9) said leprosy cases in this city have declined by half, from 48 cases in 2017 to only 24 in 2018.
Joselito Cua, DOH-9 program coordinator for leprosy, said on Tuesday the data was based on field monitoring undertaken with the help of the health centers in the barangays.
Cua said most of the leprosy patients are male and female adults and from poor families, who are being provided medicines for free through the health centers in the barangays.
“We should stop the stigma and discrimination. Once a patient is under one-month medication for leprosy, they are no longer contagious,” he explained.
Still, he said household members of leprosy patients are being closely monitored through regular screening.
Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae. The symptoms include skin patches which can affect the face, ears, nose, eyes, lips, and loss of sense of touch.
There are two kinds of leprosy and these are paucibacillary and multibacillary leprosy.
The paucibacillary indicates that the patient has five patches or less, which needs a six-month treatment while in multibacillary, the patients have more patches and needs one-year treatment.
The government allocates PHP9,000 to PHP10,000 for the treatment of each patient.
Cua said a person with symptoms can visit the health center to be assessed by the physician and will be given free medicine if diagnosed with leprosy.
