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chronic granulomatous communicable disease occurring in tropical and subtropical regions; characterized by inflamed nodules beneath the skin and wasting of body parts; caused by the bacillus Mycobacterium leprae

chronic granulomatous communicable disease occurring in tropical and subtropical regions; characterized by inflamed nodules beneath the skin and wasting of body parts; caused by the bacillus Mycobacterium leprae

A chronic granulomatous infection caused by MYCOBACTERIUM LEPRAE. The granulomatous lesions are manifested in the skin, the mucous membranes, and the peripheral nerves. Two polar or principal types are lepromatous and tuberculoid.

1. A disease of Biblical times, the nature of which is uncertain, but which might have been psoriasis or a leucoderma. 2. A chronic disease believed to be due to the presence of Bacillus leprae or Hansen's bacillus, elephantiasis Graecorum. It occurs in two principal forms: tubercular l., affecting the skin and subcutaneous tissues, and anesthetic l., affecting mainly the nerves.

Fatal infectious disease, in which the skin becomes white and affected with scales, etc.; very common in Hawaii.

A disease of the skin marked by scales or scurfy scabs.

A disease of the skin marked by scurfy spots.

A contagious cutaneous disease.

A disease of the skin characterised by the formation of whitish opaque scales.

Lepra- l. Black, Lepra nigricans- l. Norwegian, see Radzyge- l. White, Lepra alphoides.

A chronic transmissible disease with anesthesia, macula; and frequent loss of digits.

Syn.: lepra, lepra Arabum, elephantiasis Graecorum. A chronic, infectious disease caused by the Bacillus leprae, with symptoms which appear chiefly in the skin or the nervous system, according to whether the organisms find their chief development in one or the other of these tissues. The symptoms of the disease were fully described in the first century of the Christian era by Areteus. The Bacillus leprae was discovered by Hansen in 1871. The disease is divided into tubercular l., which chiefly affects the skin, and anesthetic or maculo-anesthetic Ieprosy, which chiefly affects the nerves. [Old Fr., Fr., Lat., Gr.]

n. A cutaneous disease characterized by scaly spots, usually of a white colour, but sometimes gray or black a form of elephantiasis.