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| ==In Progress== | | ==In Progress== |
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| Even though the [[incidence]] of leprosy has been decreasing throughout the last years, it should not decrease the research efforts to diminish the impact of this condition. It is important to find new, better and cost-effective ways to control the disease's incidence, particularly in endemic countries. For future research studies, major topics to keep in consideration are:
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| * Integration
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| * Quality
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| * Equity
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| * Sustainability
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| It is mandatory to identify the patterns of transmission of leprosy, in order to understand the factors influencing the occurrence and transmission of the disease, in order to develop better mechanisms of prevention, treatment and management of individual patients, household contacts and populations in general.
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| Another priority for research is to develop better and more affordable approaches to identify the individuals in the population at higher risk of being infected, and to provide an early diagnosis of those already infected, in order to minimize the damages inflicted by leprosy in the quality of life of the individual.
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| In the case of the treatments already in place, it is important to find alternatives to provide, in case drugs like rifampicin are contraindicated, either because of toxicity or resistance to the drug, even though that might not be a present problem, it is a potential issue to would cause great damage in the future if no other drug was available.
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| As with all research studies, it is essential that results are communicated to the WHO and available worldwide in order to improve the current knowledge of prevention, management and treatment of leprosy patients and at the same time enhance further discoveries, that aim to eradicate leprosy on a worldwide basis.
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| ==Random notes== | | ==Random notes== |
