A 32-year-old Indonesian woman who worked as a live-in caretaker in Taiwan for six years without returning to her hometown died of rare complications from Hansen’s disease after two months of intensive treatment, a doctor said last week.
The case involved Lucio’s phenomenon, an uncommon and potentially fatal reaction that occurs among people with diffuse lepromatous leprosy and is caused by slow-growing Mycobacterium leprae bacteria, physician Wang Yung-chih (王永志) told a news conference in Taipei.
The woman was diagnosed with leprosy, also known as Hansen’s disease, within one week of being transferred from a regional hospital to Tri-Service General Hospital in Taipei, Wang said.
She was in a critical condition when she was admitted to the hospital, with necrosis of the skin on her limbs, and underwent surgeries involving skin grafts and the amputation of necrotic fingers to prevent sepsis, he said.
She had been experiencing intermittent joint pain for about 10 months and sought medical attention at the regional hospital when her limbs turned purple and then black, Wang said.
Wang did not provide the date of onset for the disease or when she was transferred to Tri-Service General Hospital. The rare Lucio phenomenon, an allergic reaction that causes necrotizing vasculitis and progresses rapidly, was the cause of death, Wang said.
It is estimated that only a handful of people in Taiwan have ever had Hansen’s disease involving the Lucio phenomenon, which has a mortality rate of more than 50 percent, Wang said, citing records.
There have only been a few hundred cases worldwide, he added. About 10 to 15 cases of Hansen’s disease are reported annually in Taiwan, mainly imported from Southeast Asia.
The disease is transmitted through droplets from the nose and mouth. Prolonged, close contact with someone with untreated Hansen’s disease is needed to catch the disease. It has a low infection rate and an incubation period of two to 20 years.
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