Korean Lepr Bull.
2006 Jun;39(1):49-58.
Drugs in leprosy
- Affiliations
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- 1Department of Pharmacology, College of Medicine, Ewha Womans University, Korea. empark@ewha.ac.kr
Abstract
- Chemotherapy is a main component of treatments for leprosy. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends multiple-drug therapy (MDT) consisting of dapsone, clofazimine and monthly rifampin as the first-line drugs against leprosy. Minocycline, clarithromycin and certain fluoroquinolones can be used as substitutes in dapsone or clofazimine. For management of reactions, type I reactions should be treated with corticosteroids while thalidomide is the drug of choice for type II reaction. This review summarizes pharmacologic effects of drugs being used in leprosy including mechanisms of action, side effects, drug interactions and drug resistance.
