A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has found that mutations in seven genes may make people more susceptible to leprosy.

"For a long time, scientists believed that leprosy is not inherited, but the study found mutations of seven genes will increase a person's susceptibility to the disease," said Zhang Furen, a professor at the Shandong Provincial Institute of Dermatology and Venereology who was involved in the project.

Zhang and other experts analyzed genes of leprosy patients and people who do not have the disease from the eastern and southern China, including ethnic Chinese, and found that mutations in the seven genes were consistent with those who had the disease.

“Now that genes are found to be linked to the leprosy, we can take actions to prevent the disease before the symptoms show, in a contrast to the current condition that the disease can’t be prevented,” Zhang said.

Zhang and the other experts involved have also set up the world’s largest database of leprosy genes in order to further study the disease.

More than 500,000 cases of leprosy have been reported in China, and Shandong is one of the worst hit areas.

Editor Li Jing

By Ji Yuan and Zhao Ruixue (China Daily Shandong Bureau)