In Jan 2004, around about 460,000 people suffered from leprosy.

By the way, dogs and horses suffer sunburn to their noses and mouthes, so I would like to say that perhaps pigs and humans are the only ones to suffer it to their entire body? But I'm not sure. However today's random fact comes from the World Health Organisation so I am more sure of its verity.

I am interested in leprosy today because it once was terribly afflicting to mankind, and also I have just had the dubious pleasure of watching Kingdom of Heaven.

Interesting things about the movie: The meditteranean sea is very rough, people have been fighting in Israel for at least 1000 years and STILL HAVEN'T STOPPED, and there are some very old buildings there. And camels are cool.
Plus it prompted me to investigate leprosy, and having done so, I thought I'd share the information with the lucky few of you who read this blog, because I'm sure you're just as interested as me!

Leprosy is caused by bacteria. Yes, contrary to my own belief, it is contagious. The bacteria at fault is mycobacterium leprae, which is rod-shaped and acid-fast.

What is 'acid-fast' bacteria I hear you ask? Well, apparently, there are three types of bacterial cell wall - gram negative, gram positive, and acid-fast. I do remember vaguely hearing about the first two at uni. The name acid-fast comes about because when bacteria are dyed with an acid alcohol mixture, only acid-fast bacteria retain the dye and stay red. In fact, an acid-fast cell wall is one composed of a thin, inner layer of peptidoglycan and large amount of glycolipids such as mycolic acid, arabinogalactan-lipid comlex, and lipoarabinomannan.

This just leads to more questions. What is peptidoglycan? It gives the cell wall structure and shape, it is a lattice of two amino sugars. It prevents osmotic lysis in the acid-fast cell wall- which is the cell bursting because it has water with a high concentration of electrolytes inside, and osmosis leads the concentrations on both sides of a membrane to equalise, and to do this, all this water pours into the cell, and it bursts. So peptidoglycan protects the cell from this happening.

What is a glycolipid? It is a sugar attached to a lipid (I think a lipid is a fat). Their role is to provide energy and also serve as markers for cellular recognition.

Ok I think we know enough about acid-fast bacteria. (By the way, there is a school of thought which thinks a particular type of acid-fast bacteria is responsible for cancers)

Anyway back to leprosy: So it's caused by this bacteria. In fact its bacteria, discovered in the 1873, was the first bacteria to be discovered as causing disease in mankind. You would have thought it being bacteria that we would have developed antibiotics for it, some type of penicillin, and we did - in the 1940s, with the development of dapsone, but resistance to this gradually appeared and spread. So to combat this there are three drugs which must be used at the same time, one is taken once a month, and the other two more frequently, usually daily. Without using all of these, the patient's bacteria will most likely become resistant to the one type of treatment offered.

And how can we tell if they have leprosy? Look for lesions to the skin (often red, or copper, may or may not be raised), loss of sensory ability, thickened nerves, muscular weakness. They can also in some cases do skin smears and identify the bacteria that way.

Enough of that topic now. I think we should all feel more educated about the plight of some people both historically and in the present day. And I think even when you can't do anything about it, one should still care that it is happening.

So the movie: I wouldn't recommend it to be honest. There was holes in the storyline, I didn't feel I ever got to know the main character, there was heaps of random jumping from one bit to another, lots of people killing each other, massive improbabilities, bits never explained, and the girl was honestly pathetic. "Oh dear my kingdom is going to be attacked soon, I'll let my ex-lover rouse the people to its defence, and go mope in my room for a bit." By the way, most of the story was based on accounts of the time, but the main character's life was invented quite a bit. I was hoping that Ridley Scott didn't get the dramatic escape from drowning from his own imagination but was compelled by folk tales or legends to include it, but this doesn't seem to have been the case.

Anyway Joy leaves for Europe tomorrow. Well, via Alaska and a cruise which will be awesome! I'm so envious. I so want to travel! I want to go somewhere! Hmmm maybe i'll convince K that a short trip to.. Kerikeri? might be good this weekend. Taupo even? Somewhere exciting. We are going out for dinner with Brendon and Minan Sunday night, and I theoretically have a 21st to attend on Friday, and I thought I might go to the art gallery with anna at some point, but we can still travel somewhere! It might calm my travel bug for now.