Title: leprosy
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - leprosy
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.10885
Status: current

Definition
Disease caused by infection with the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae, often affecting the skin and nerves and causing body parts to become deformed.

Note
Thalidomide is used as a therapeutic drug and thalidomide-associated embryopathy occurs in regions where leprosy is endemic.

Related Term
- Thalidomide: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/11299

Source
- PAC, 2016, 88, 713. 'Glossary of terms used in developmental and reproductive toxicology (IUPAC Recommendations 2016)' on page 772 (https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2015-1202)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/10885/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/10885/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/10885/xml

Citation: Citation: 'leprosy' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.10885
License: The IUPAC Gold Book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) for individual terms.
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Disclaimer: The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.
Accessed: 2026-08-04T02:43:43+00:00