immuno-what

[invisiblebrain]

well this time to harp on leprosy and tb

 

 

both in leprosy and tuberculosis ,its the cell mediated immunity and not the humoral immunity that works but in AIDS where cell mediated immunity is depresssed , tuberculosis is more common than leprosy......

 

 

what does that reallly mean......

[Sayonara]

Wildly random guess:

 

The simplest explanation is that the agent causing TB is more common.

[VendingMenace]

yeah, not only that but the TB agent is much more hearty than the lepresy one. The TB agent can go into a cyst state when outside its host and stay viable for years. SO you can get TB from someone who you have not even seen! Lepresy on the other hand is passed on by touch, i belive. I could be wrong though.

[invisiblebrain]

leprosy is transmitted by aerosol infection , more than close contact.but i still dont think the ratio of encounters with TB/m.leprae matches with the number of AIDS patients having TB.

in fact i havent seen in my life a single HIV case which had leprosy,while i have seeen many of them had TB.so i dont think either the prevalence of the survival rate of TB can still amount to the number of cases......there is something more which i believe is immunological........any immunologists please give an opinion as to what specific cells leprae infects.....and that about TB

[Sayonara]

Patients with full-blown AIDS are often critically afflicted by diseases and parasites that the average human always carries. It's only because their immune system is knocked out that these things are able to flourish.

 

For instance there are parasites you are carrying in your gut right now that are harmless to you, but with certain parts of your immune system disabled they could represent a life-threatening infestation.

 

Perhaps the average person is exposed to TB more frequently than they are exposed to leprosy. I would have thought this is so, seeing as TB sweeps through populations (depending on which country you're in) and leprosy does not.

[Skye]

Even in western countries TB is still quite common, with nearly 20,000 new cases are diagnosed in the US each year. This is opposed to less than 300 leprosy cases.

[Sayonara]

300 leprosy cases in the USA, or worldwide?

[Skye]

Under 300 new cases of leprosy (Hansen's disease) in the US each year. It's ALOT more common in some parts of the developing world, with half a million cases diagnosed each year world wide.

[inamorata]

From the WHO website:

 

Someone in the world is newly infected with TB bacilli every second.

Overall, one-third of the world's population is currently infected with the TB bacillus.

5-10% of people who are infected with TB bacilli (but who are not infected with HIV) become sick or infectious at some time during their life.

 

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs104/en/

 

Also details the prevalence in certain regions of the world.

[inamorata]

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs101/en/

 

Leprosy:

 

Figures on the current leprosy situation

 

Approximately 755 000 new cases of leprosy were detected during 2001. At the beginning of 2002, 650 000 cases were registered and were undergoing treatment;

In 14 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America leprosy is still considered a public health problem;

According to the latest available information, intensive efforts are still needed to reach the leprosy elimination target in six countries: Brazil, India, Madagascar, Mozambique, Myanmar, and Nepal. Taken all together, these countries account for 90% of the prevalence of the disease in the world in early 2002;

At the start of 2002, about 70% of the world's registered leprosy patients are in India.