Saturday, 27 July 2013
BRAZIL: LEPROSY - 30,000 NEW CASES YEARLY
PRO/EDR> Leprosy - Brazil: thalidomide use, birth defects
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LEPROSY - BRAZIL: THALIDOMIDE USE, BIRTH DEFECTS
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A ProMED-mail post
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
Date: Tue 23 Jul 2013
Source: BBC News Magazine [edited]
A new scientific study seen exclusively by the BBC indicates that the
drug thalidomide is still causing birth defects in Brazil today. It's
been given to people suffering from leprosy to ease some of their
symptoms, and some women have taken it unaware of the risks they run
when pregnant.
Thalidomide was 1st marketed in the late 1950s as a sedative. It was
given to pregnant women to help them overcome morning sickness, but it
damaged babies in the womb, restricting the growth of arms and legs.
About 10 000 thalidomide babies were born worldwide until the drug was
withdrawn in the early 1960s. In most countries the thalidomide
children became thalidomide adults, now in their 50s, and there were
no more thalidomide babies. But in Brazil the drug was re-licensed in
1965 as a treatment for skin lesions, one of the complications of
leprosy.
Leprosy is more prevalent in Brazil than in any other country except
India. More than 30 000 new cases are diagnosed each year -- and
millions of thalidomide pills are distributed. Researchers now say 100
Brazilian children have injuries exactly like those caused by
thalidomide. "A tragedy is occurring in Brazil... it is a syndrome
which is completely avoidable," says Dr Lavinia Schuler-Faccini, a
professor at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. But
campaigners, doctors and leprosy sufferers say the drug is vital. They
believe the benefits outweigh the risks.
Schuler-Faccini and other researchers from the Universidade Federal do
Rio Grande do Sul in Porto Alegre looked at the birth records of 17.5
million babies born between 2005 and 2010. "We looked at all children
with limb defects and those with the characteristic defects of
thalidomide," Schuler-Faccini says. We compared the distribution of
thalidomide tablets with the number of limb defects and there was a
direct correlation. The bigger the amount of pills in each state the
higher the number of limb defects." In the same 2005-2010 period, 5.8
million thalidomide pills were distributed across Brazil. "We had
about 100 cases in these 6 years similar to thalidomide syndrome,"
says another of the research team, Dr Fernanda Vianna. "We couldn't
evaluate each case, we cannot say that all are cases of thalidomide
syndrome, but this type of defect is very rare."
Poor health education and widespread sharing of medicines may [also]
be to blame, she says. "[A patient] said that the doctor didn't tell
him that women couldn't take it. He said they didn't tell him anything
about it." There are strict regulations around the drug. It can only
be prescribed to a woman who is taking 2 forms of birth control and
agrees to regular pregnancy tests. There are clear warnings on the
packets and there is a picture of a child damaged by thalidomide. But
leprosy is a disease of the poor, in areas where health care is patchy
and education is inadequate. The Amazon region, where access to the
health system can be difficult, is particularly hard hit.
And plenty of people in Brazil argue that thalidomide should continue
to be used. "Nowadays there is a myth about thalidomide," says Mariana
Jankunas, production coordinator at FUNED, a state-owned manufacturer
of the drug. "I think with information and publicity about the
benefits that thalidomide brings to patients, this myth can be
overcome, because the benefits outweigh the risks."
Doctors who prescribe the drug agree. "It is the best drug," says Dr
Francisco Reis, from the Leprosy Clinic at Curupaiti Hospital near Rio
de Janiero. When I tell him that many people may be shocked to hear
thalidomide is still being used he responds: "You have the ghosts of
thalidomide in the 50s, but you should forget those ghosts." He
introduces us to one of his patients, Tainah, who shows us how the
medicine has reduced the debilitating lesions on her arms. "I know
that I need the medicine," she tells us. She says she understands that
if she doesn't take contraceptive pills she could get pregnant and
give birth to a disabled child.
Brazil is a country of enormous inequalities where 20 per cent of the
population live below the poverty line. Overcrowded housing and poor
health systems are common to both rural areas and the slums of the
cities -- places where leprosy thrives.
Where the disease is most common, thalidomide will continue to be
prescribed and the risk of babies being born terribly injured will
remain. Artur Custodio from Morhan, the national leprosy campaign
group, recognises that the medicine is dangerous, but says it is cars
that cause most injuries and disabilities in Brazil. "We don't talk
about banning cars, we say we should teach people how to drive
responsibly," he says. "It's the same thing for thalidomide."
[byline: Angus Crawford]
--
communicated by:
ProMED-mail
[Erythema nodosum (EN) is an inflammatory immunologic reaction in the
subcutaneous fat to a variety of stimuli that results in tender, red
subcutaneous nodules. EN is most common on both shins, but it may also
occur on other areas of the body (buttocks, calves, ankles, thighs,
and arms). Conditions associated with EN include streptococcal
infection, tuberculosis, sarcoidosis, histoplasmosis,
coccidioidomycosis, ulcerative colitis, Behcet's disease, or drug
reactions; as well as Hodgkin lymphoma, renal cell carcinoma and
carcinomas of colon, pancreas and uterine cervix.
EN also occurs as an immune response to the antigens of _Mycobacterium
leprae_, the organism that causes leprosy and is called erythema
nodosum leprosum (ENL). ENL occurs most often in patients with
lepromatous leprosy, and occasionally in borderline-lepromatous
leprosy. It occurs during the course of treatment, and also occurs in
untreated cases
(). ENL
presents with sudden appearance of tender, red nodules that are often
accompanied by fever; pain; general malaise; muscle, bone and joint
pain; and may involve other organs, including the eyes, nerves, lymph
nodes, testes, kidneys, liver, and spleen. Mild ENL may last for about
2 weeks and be followed by a reaction-free period of a month or 2;
severe ENL may persist for years.
Thalidomide has been considered the treatment of choice for ENL,
except in premenopausal women
(), because
use of the drug in pregnancy is associated with severe birth defects
-- for example, missing or abnormal legs, arms, feet and hands; spinal
cord defects; cleft lip or palate; absent or abnormal external ears;
heart, kidney, and genital abnormalities; and abnormal formation of
the digestive system. However, because of poor understanding of the
risks involved by patients and perhaps health care workers, and
widespread sharing of medicines, a resurgence of thalidomide-damaged
babies is occurring in Brazil, as detailed in the news report above.
There are several other treatments for ENL, including the oral drugs
prednisolone and clofazimine. However, a Cochrane Review of 13
randomized controlled trials that involved 445 participants and
assessed betamethasone (1 trial), thalidomide (5 trials),
pentoxifylline (1 trial), clofazimine (3 trials), indomethacin (2
trials), and levamisole (1 trial) found these trials were too small
and poorly performed to identify important clinical differences
().
The World Health Organization (WHO) has published a statement on the
use of thalidomide in leprosy
():
"Several controlled studies done in the 1970s have demonstrated that
prednisolone is more effective in controlling ENL and associated
neuritis. In addition, it was demonstrated that clofazimine, an
anti-leprosy drug introduced on a small scale in the early 1960s, had
anti-inflammatory action. Studies showed that clofazimine is the drug
of choice for the management of chronic, recurrent ENL reactions, as
it had both anti-reaction and anti-leprosy effects.
"The drug clofazimine is now a component of the multidrug therapy
(MDT), introduced by WHO in 1981 as the standard treatment for leprosy
and now supplied free of charge to all patients worldwide. The
presence of clofazimine in the combination has significantly reduced
the frequency and severity of ENL reactions.
"Because of its known teratogenic [causing malformations of an embryo
or fetus] effects, WHO does not recommend the use of thalidomide in
leprosy. Experience has shown that it is virtually impossible to
develop and implement a fool-proof surveillance mechanism to combat
misuse of the drug. Today, a number of thalidomide babies continue to
be born each year, reflecting regulatory insufficiency and widespread
use under inadequate supervision." - Mod.ML
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