The list of signs and symptoms mentioned in various sources for Leprosy includes the 42 symptoms listed below:
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The list of other diseases or medical conditions that may be on the differential diagnosis list of alternative diagnoses for Leprosy includes:
See the full list of 18 alternative diagnoses for Leprosy
More information about symptoms of Leprosy and related conditions:
Click on any of the symptoms below to see a full list of other causes including diseases, medical conditions, toxins, drug interactions, or drug side effect causes of that symptom.
Medical Books Excerpts Excerpts of published medical book chapters related to Leprosy are available from published medical books for more detailed information about Leprosy.
Copyright notice for book excerpts: Copyright © 2008 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. All rights reserved.
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M. leprae attacks the peripheral nervous system, especially the ulnar, radial, facial, anterior-tibial, and posterior-popliteal nerves. The central nervous system appears highly resistant. When the bacilli damage the skin's fine nerves, they cause anesthesia, anhidrosis, and dryness. If they attack a large nerve trunk, motor nerve damage, weakness, and pain occur, followed by peripheral anesthesia, muscle paralysis, or atrophy. In later stages, clawhand, footdrop, and ocular complications — such as cor-neal insensitivity and ulceration, conjunctivitis, photophobia, and blindness — can occur. Injury, ulceration, infection, and disuse of the deformed parts cause scarring and contracture. Neurologic complications occur in both lepromatous and tuberculoid leprosy but are less extensive and develop more slowly in the lepromatous form. Lepromatous leprosy can invade tissue in virtually every organ of the body, but the organs generally remain functional.
The lepromatous and tuberculoid forms affect the skin in markedly different ways. In lepromatous disease, early lesions are multiple, symmetrical, and erythematous, sometimes appearing as macules or pap-ules with smooth surfaces. Later, they enlarge and form plaques or nodules called lepromas on the earlobes, nose, eyebrows, and forehead, giving the patient a characteristic leonine appearance. In advanced stages, M. leprae may infiltrate the entire skin surface. Lepromatous leprosy also causes loss of eyebrows, eyelashes, and sebaceous and sweat gland function and, in advanced stages, conjunctival and scleral nodules. Upper respiratory lesions cause epistaxis, ulceration of the uvula and tonsils, septal perforation, and nasal collapse. Lepromatous leprosy can lead to hepatosplenomegaly and orchitis. Fingertips and toes deteriorate as bone resorption follows trauma and infection in these insensitive areas.
When tuberculoid leprosy affects the skin (sometimes its effect is strictly neural), it produces raised, large, erythematous plaques or macules with clearly defined borders. As they grow, they become rough, hairless, and hypopigmented and leave anesthetic scars.
In borderline leprosy, skin lesions are numerous but smaller, less anesthetic, and less sharply defined than tuberculoid lesions. Untreated, borderline leprosy may deteriorate into lepromatous disease.
Occasionally, acute episodes intensify leprosy’s slowly progressing course. Whether such exacerbations are part of the disease process or a reaction to therapy remains controversial. Erythema nodosum leprosum (ENL), seen in lepromatous leprosy, produces fever, malaise, lymphadenopathy, and painful red skin nodules, usually during antimicrobial treatment, although it may occur in untreated people. In Mexico and other Central American countries, some patients with lepromatous disease develop Lucio's phenomenon. This malady produces generalized punched-out ulcers that may extend into muscle and fascia. Leprosy may also lead to secondary bacterial infection of skin ulcers and to amyloidosis.
Source: Professional Guide to Diseases (Eighth Edition), 2005
This chronic infectious disease usually affects the skin and peripheral nerves but has a wide range of possible clinical manifestations. Patients are classified as having paucibacillary or multibacillary Hansen's disease. Paucibacillary Hansen's disease is milder and characterized by one or more hypopigmented skin macules. Multibacillary Hansen's disease is associated with symmetric skin lesions, nodules, plaques, thickened dermis, and frequent involvement of the nasal mucosa resulting in nasal congestion and epistaxis. (Source: excerpt from Hansen's Disease (Leprosy): DBMD)
When considering symptoms of Leprosy, it is also important to consider Leprosy as a possible cause of other medical conditions. The Disease Database lists the following medical conditions that Leprosy may cause:
- (Source - Diseases Database)Incubation period for Leprosy: many years, from 1 to 40 years.
These general reference articles may be of interest in relation to medical signs and symptoms of disease in general:
Full list of premium articles on symptoms and diagnosis
The symptom information on this page attempts to provide a list of some possible signs and symptoms of Leprosy. This signs and symptoms information for Leprosy has been gathered from various sources, may not be fully accurate, and may not be the full list of Leprosy signs or Leprosy symptoms. Furthermore, signs and symptoms of Leprosy may vary on an individual basis for each patient. Only your doctor can provide adequate diagnosis of any signs or symptoms and whether they are indeed Leprosy symptoms.
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