Complications of Mycobacterium leprae The above condition is
probably what you think of when you hear ‘leprosy’;
disfigurement and limbs falling off. These are not actually
symptoms caused directly by M. leprae, but are complications of
long exposure to it. Prior to the effective forms of modern
medicine some of us enjoy today, once an individual was infected
with M. leprae, life long exposure and disfigurement was a
guarantee. Today, leprosy is very treatable. The reason digits
and extremities decay in extreme cases is because of the damage
M. leprae reaps on the peripheral nerves (which your hands have
a high density of). Without feeling in your extremities, you
become prone to damaging them without realizing, cutting off
their blood flow, wrist/foot-drop, absorption of digits, clawing
of toes and hands, and possibly contracture.