Leprosy is one of the oldest diseases of humanity, many controversies surround it, the origin of its past and its spread remain unconfirmed. The disease appears to have spread with migratory flows from Africa to India, between Africa and the Middle East and Europe, and from Europe to America. What we know today as leprosy had different names around the world: Bennu, Eqpu, Sara´ath, Zara´ath, Vat-Shomita, Kushta, Kilasa, Li, Lieh, Lieh-Fang, Wu-chi, Kusta, Tsumí, Saharsubbu, Isurbaa, Léuki, Vat-Rakta, Likprar, Gafedad ,, Mal de San Lazaro, Hebra, Kaposi, Arabum, Elephantiasis Graecorum etc. In the medieval period, there were lazarus houses throughout Europe and the disease was endemic. It is known that the disease manifested itself in various ways with terrible effects on the body.
The discovery of Mycobacterium leprae by Henrik Armauer Hansen has some historical relevance since until 1873 no one had been able to demonstrate that a bacterium could be the cause of a disease in man. Since then Hansen’s name has been associated with leprosy.
One of the most relevant characteristics of the leprosy bacillus is that it cannot be cultivated in laboratories, man and some animals such as the armadillo are the best known reservoirs. Leprosy does not kill its host, it is difficult to infect, its survival depends on the body’s immune response.
To date, four types of M. leprae have been identified:
Type 1 is found in strains of M. leprae from Asia, the Pacific region, and East Africa; type 2, in strains isolated from Ethiopia, Malawi, Nepal, northern India and New Caledonia; type 3 in strains from Europe, North Africa and the Americas, and type 4 in strains from West Africa and the Caribbean.
The analysis of the first complete cosmid sequence of M. leprae was carried out in 1993 thanks to the genome sequencing project, they compared the strains, finding eight varieties that contained large amounts of mutated genes, Evolution and geographical trends, What supports the hypothesis that ancient Greek and Roman routes connecting Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia contributed to the spread of this type of M. leprae.
Effective drugs against the disease became available in 1948, and in 1981 combination chemotherapy made it possible to treat leprosy and stop its destructive effects. Doctors emphasize the importance of early diagnosis and treatment so that the irreversible and destructive effects of the disease can be stopped as soon as possible.
Until 1948, nothing could be done for people who contracted the disease. Leprosy changed people’s appearance and deprived them of their defining characteristics. Due to the nerve damage caused by the infection, people could very easily injure their hands and feet anesthetized by the bacillus, resulting in visible mutilations.
Not only did people suffer from leprosy, but in many communities they also suffered from the disease. They were often expelled from their families, excluded from their villages, and deprived of their possessions and legal rights. Sometimes, when a person was diagnosed with the disease, the full weight of its historical representation fell on them and they excluded themselves out of a feeling of shame. In other cases, while people could still contribute to the economic well-being of their family, they stayed with them, but once they became a burden, they moved to the nearest nursing home.
In many countries, laws were enacted that would require people to be transferred to an asylum and isolated there for the rest of their lives. In this way, since the mid-19th century, countless people were forcibly detained and imprisoned in places of isolation (Leprosariums, Lazaretos). They lost their legal status and were not allowed to marry. The healthy children that were born to them were placed in orphanages. In some countries, if people wanted a partner, they had to undergo sterilization before they were allowed to marry.
Although this all sounds like something that happened in the dark distant past, there are still many people alive today who can recount their experiences with leprosaria or who are looking for their biological parents. And yet, despite the great injustices committed against people with leprosy, they have been extraordinarily proactive in refusing to reduce themselves to their disease. They have fought against being labeled in a degrading and dehumanizing way. They are now calling for their basic human rights to be restored.
Fountain:
