Leprosy can have an incubation period of 10 years. This prolonged incubation makes identifying people infected with the bacteria very difficult. The Mission To End Leprosy is investing in a research initiative in Karigiri, India to identify different genetic markers in the various strains of leprosy."If we can understand this, it will be much easier to understand how M. leprae (the leprosy bacteria) manages to infect people and cause disease, meaning in the future we could even make a vaccine that would prevent a person from ever getting leprosy or any of the deformities associated with this life-changing disease."

 Currently, we have an Irish immunologist working alongside our colleagues in India. Anna Wedderburn, a recent graduate of Trinity College, is working on understanding the similarities amongst the different strains of Leprosy bacteria. She is hoping to identify a commonality in each strain which affects the immune system. Anna Wedderburn noted

If we can understand the transmission of this disease and how it affects and interacts with the immune system, we can begin to work on a vaccine. If we can develop this, we could see an end to leprosy in our lifetime. This research project is  a building block of this process. You can support this project by donating directly here or to one of the adventurers racing in the Dublin Gaelforce challenge.