Two new leprosy gene variants have been identified by a team from Shandong Provincial Institute of Dermatology and Venereology, which is hoped to bring about new treatments for the disease.

The team based in Jinan, capital of the province, has detected two risk variants near the IL23R and RAB 32 genes that are responsible for leprosy after a study on more than 10,000 samples of the disease.

Their findings were published online in the world-renowned scientific journal Nature Genetics on October 24.

"With seven other leprosy gene variants identified by our team in 2009, for the first time in the world, a genetic database will be built to predict those people particularly susceptible to the disease," said Zhang Furen, the leader of the research team.

The study will play an important role in further research on pathogenesis, new treatments, and prevention of leprosy, he added.

Leprosy is an infectious disease that is primarily characterized by skin lesions and progressive physical debility. It can cause permanent nerve damage.

More than 200,000 newly contracted leprosy cases are reported worldwide every year, and China has nearly one tenth of the world's leprosy patients with more than 1,700 new cases reported annually in the past five years.

China will plan to decrease the prevalence rate of leprosy by 50 percent by 2020, according to a plan to fight the infectious disease issued by the Ministry of Health on September 29.

By Wang Qian (China Daily Shandong Bureau)

Edited by Chen Zhilin and Tania Lee