Immunological aspects of Hansen's Disease

Leprosy is a serious public health problem for causing permanent physical disability. It is caused by Mycobacterium Leprae, obligate intracellular parasite, is characterized by presenting with a broad spectrum of clinical manifestations, which contain at their ends polar opposites and stable, interspersed by unstable forms, which may acquire clinical and immunological aspects of each of the poles, depending on the host immune response potential (Figure 1).