As the world leprosy prevention day falls, the leprosy prevention office of the China Center of Disease Prevention and Control briefed on the current situation of leprosy in China: by the end of 2003, China had 6,552 cases, and the accumulative number of registered cases from 1949 (when New China was founded) to 2003 was about 480,000.

In the end of 2003 1,411 cases were newly reported, together with 130 cases of relapse, including 297 patients with disabilities visible to the naked eye, or 21.04 percent of total new patients, and 45 children, or 3.19 percent. Most cases reported annually gathered in Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangdong, Sichuan, Hunan, Guangxi and Fujian.

A national survey once showed that China has cured 250,000 lepers, but with as many as 120,000 of them left disabled.

By People's Daily Online