Maria shares her life with her husband in the “abrigo” of Dom Rodrigo José de Menezes. Her daughters live far away
Maria shares her life with her husband in the “abrigo” of Dom Rodrigo José de Menezes. Her daughters live far away and don’t come to pay a visit, although she keeps talking and talking about them. Those who do get infected are difficult to identify. The bacterium can incubate in the body for up to 30 years. The sick are not usually diagnosed until they have serious symptoms, and they tend to live in poor areas with few health services. The bacterium, M. lepra, attacks nerve endings and destroys the body’s ability to feel pain or injury. There is a full range of illness possible, from tuberculoid, a lung infection, through to lepromatous, where much of the body is affected. In the more serious cases, loss of sensation leads to multiple wounds, which become infected. Contrary to folklore, leprosy does not cause body parts to fall off, but, untreated, it can lead to pretty gruesome deformity to the face and limbs, and blindness.
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