Gulariya: A total of 120 new patients of leprosy have been found in Bardiya district, the District Public Health Office (DPHO) said. The revelation was made during a campaign to eliminate leprosy in the past eight days alone.

The campaign that started on January 23 has classified 27 patients including three children into multibacillary leprosy (MB) and the rest 90 into paucibacillary leprosy (PB), the DPHO said.

Patients showing negative smears at all sites are grouped as PB while those showing positive smears at any site are grouped as MB.

The number of leprosy patients taking drugs has reached 240 in the district so far, the DPHO said. Banke tops the districts having leprosy patients.

The government with the aim to eliminate the disease by 2020 has launched a campaign to seek and treat patients of leprosy in Banke and Bardiya.

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