 Welcome to Spotlight. I'm Adam Navas. And I'm Liz Wade. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no matter where in the world they live. Kajal is nine years old. She lives in India with her mother and four brothers and sisters. One and a half years ago, Kajal saw strange white areas of skin on her arms and her back. These white patches of skin began to spread, getting larger. Doctors in her area tried many different medicines to stop the white patches from growing. But nothing worked. Kajal's mother thought that the patches might be a sign of leprosy. So, Kajal and her mother and brothers and sisters traveled for two days to an American leprosy mission hospital in Nepal. There, doctors discovered that Kajal had severe leprosy. They began treating her. Leprosy is an ancient and frightening disease. And it still affects people around the world. But many organizations are working to stop it. Today's spotlight is on the methods and tools these organizations are using to get rid of leprosy. Leprosy often begins as a simple skin condition. A person may notice a small change on his or her skin, like Kajal did. Then the small affected areas grow. But it is not always clear that the cause is leprosy. Malcolm Doothy is a scientist at the Infectious Disease Research Institute. He studies leprosy. He told reporter Rachel Solomon. The first way leprosy presents itself is as lesions. Damage to the skin. It can look very much like a lot of other diseases. Patients often get treated for the wrong thing. Health workers often waste time treating for common skin conditions. And when leprosy is not treated quickly, it becomes dangerous. A person with leprosy may become blind. And he may lose the sense of feeling in parts of his body. This means he is more likely to become injured. People with leprosy can even lose parts of their bodies because of these injuries. The disease damages a person's body permanently. Because of the way a person's body looks, people do not want to be near him. It is not easy to get leprosy from another person. But people still fear that they will also get leprosy. This way of thinking is another reason people fear this disease so much. If a person gets leprosy, he suffers from the disease. But he also suffers because people do not want to be near him. Experts are not exactly sure how leprosy spreads. They believe it spreads through a person's breath. People breathe in the leprosy bacteria from the air around them and become infected. Experts believe that even when leprosy bacteria become dry, they can still spread the disease. Experts cannot grow leprosy bacteria in a laboratory. So it is difficult to study it. Experts do know that a person can have leprosy and not even know it. After the bacteria enter a person's body, they work very slowly. People can carry leprosy bacteria for 5 to 10 years before they see any sign of it. This means that they can also spread the disease without knowing it. But people can cure leprosy. The treatment for leprosy is a combination of drugs. A patient takes the drugs for 6 months to a year. After the treatment, he is cured. However, any damage to his body is permanent. That is why it is so important to identify leprosy very quickly. In 1991, the World Health Organization began to offer free drug treatment for any person who had leprosy. And they worked to expand knowledge of the disease. When people know about the disease, they can report it earlier. Today, leprosy is not very common. However, many organizations are working to get rid of leprosy completely. Most cases of leprosy are reported in Asia, Africa and Latin America. But hope is coming to these areas. Two new tools promise to change the future for leprosy. The first is a test. And the second is a vaccine. A test for leprosy can help people know if they have it, even before they show signs of the disease. The Infectious Disease Research Institute developed this small tester. Many people who have leprosy, or live in areas where leprosy is common, are not able to easily visit a leprosy expert. Local health workers may not be able to easily identify a skin condition as leprosy. However, if a health worker thinks a person might have leprosy, she can use this test. The test can tell her in only a few minutes if a person has leprosy or not. The tester is very easy to use. Anyone can use it. A health worker takes a drop of blood from a patient. She puts the drop of blood onto the test. Then she places three drops of liquid solution on top of the blood. She waits for a few minutes. If one line appears, the test is negative. But if two lines appear, the test is positive. The person has leprosy and can begin treatment. Doothy explained to reporter Rachel Solomon, it takes a lot of pressure off the health worker looking at symptoms saying, hmm, you could have leprosy. You could have a fungal infection. You could have this other thing. It gives the health worker something so that during your visit to the doctor, you can get a clear answer. The second tool that will change the future of leprosy is a vaccine. A vaccine prevents a person from getting a disease. Many leprosy experts believe that a vaccine is the most powerful way to get rid of leprosy. That is why the Infectious Disease Research Institute, or IDRI, is working to develop one. For that reason, the IDRI is working on two vaccines. One vaccine will be for people who are at risk of getting leprosy. The second vaccine will be for people who have recently gotten leprosy. People cannot get the vaccines yet. Researchers are still testing them. But organizations working against leprosy, like IDRI, have great hopes that they will work. In the past, people who had leprosy had to leave their homes and cities. They had little hope. But today, victims of leprosy can be cured. If they recognize the disease early, there is little damage to their body. And there is hope that in the future, leprosy will disappear. It will no longer threaten anyone. The writer and producer of this program was Liz Wade. The voices you heard were from the United States and the United Kingdom. All quotes were adapted for this program and voiced by Spotlight. You can find our program on the internet at www.radioenglish.net. This program is called Curing Leprosy. You can also leave your comments on our website. And find us on Facebook. Just search for Spotlight Radio. We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight program. Goodbye.