01283nas a2200157   4500000000100000008004100001653001200042653001700054100001600071245004000087300001000127490000700137050001800144520094900162022001401111       2016                            d10aleprosy10aChemotherapy1 aNoordeen SK00aHistory of chemotherapy of leprosy.  a32-360 v34  aNOORDEEN 20163 a<p>Chemotherapy of leprosy over the past 70 years has passed through several phases, from sulfones, to clofazimine, and to highly bactericidal drugs like rifampicin. The use particularly of the more potent drugs in effective combinations and the development of standard multidrug therapy regimens have made a huge difference in the successful treatment of leprosy as well as in reducing tremendously the prevalence of leprosy globally. A major contributing factor to development of better drugs and drug combinations has been the introduction of the mouse footpad model to evaluate the in vivo activity of drugs against Mycobacterium leprae. The World Health Organization has recommended multidrug therapy, which has been used to treat more than 15 million patients in the last 30 years and has set an excellent record with regard to its very high rate of cure, very low occurrence of relapse, and very rare occurrence of drug resistance.</p>
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