The loss of sensation can lead to unnoticed injuries which may in turn become infected. In advanced cases, gangrene will set in and flesh will rot on the patient. Tuberculoid leprosy symptoms are a few well-defined skin lesions that are numb. Sensation loss may only affect a small patch of skin. Again, the loss of sensation can lead to unnoticed injuries and infection.
Dimorphous leprosy creates skin lesions characteristic of the lepromatous and tuberculoid forms.
The disease is curable, but the effectiveness of the treatment is dependant on an early diagnosis. Patients are given a cocktail of strong antibiotics which can completely cure the tuberculoid form of the disease within six months and the more infectious lepromatous form within two years. A combination of drugs must be used because the leprosy bacteria can develop resistence to antibiotics very quickly. If treatment is started early, deformities and disabilities can be prevented. To date more than eight million patients have been totally cured of leprosy.