Leprosy - History

History

DNA taken from the shrouded remains of a man discovered in a tomb next to the Old City of Jerusalem shows him to be the earliest human proven to have suffered from leprosy. The remains were dated by radiocarbon methods to 1-50 A.D.

After the end of the 17th century, Norway, Iceland and England were the countries in Western Europe where leprosy was a significant problem. During the 1830s, the number of lepers in Norway, Iceland and England rose rapidly, believed to be caused by frequent visits of sailors who visited Western India, causing an increase in medical research into the condition, and the disease became a political issue. Norway appointed a medical superintendent for leprosy in 1854 and established a national register for lepers in 1856, the first national patient register in the world.

Mycobacterium leprae, the causative agent of leprosy, was discovered by G. H. Armauer Hansen in Norway in 1873, making it the first bacterium to be identified as causing disease in humans. The principal opposition to Hansen's view that leprosy was an infectious disease came from his father-in-law, Daniel Cornelius Danielssen who considered it a hereditary disease and had stated this in his book, ‘’Traité de la Spedalskhed ou Elephantiasis des Grecs’’ - the standard reference book on leprosy from 1848 until the death of Danielssen in 1895. While Danielssen's book in 1847 was a highly used source and provided a solid foundation for worldwide leprosy understanding, it was soon surpassed. In 1867 Dr. Gavin Milroy finished the Royal College of Physicians' Report on leprosy. His work, which compiled data from all corners of the English empire, agreed with Danielssen that leprosy was a hereditary disease, but went further to state that leprosy was also a constitutional disease that could be mitigated by improvements in one's health, diet, and living conditions.

Hansen observed a number of nonrefractile small rods in unstained tissue sections. The rods were not soluble in potassium lye, and they were acid- and alcohol-fast. In 1879, he was able to stain these organisms with Ziehl's method and the similarities with Koch's bacillus (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) were noted. There were three significant differences between these organisms: (1) the rods in the leprosy lesions were extremely numerous, (2) they formed characteristic intracellular collections (globii), and (3) the rods had a variety of shapes with branching and swelling. These differences suggested that leprosy was caused by an organism related to but distinct from Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

He worked at St. Jørgens Hospital in Bergen, founded early in the fifteenth century. St. Jørgens is now preserved as a museum, Lepramuseet.

A common solution to the leper question across Europe and Asia from the 13th century lasting into the 20th century in some parts of the world was a leper asylum, commonly referred to as a leprosarium. These hospitals were often times a voluntary reprieve from constant stigmatization as well as a source of medicine and healing. However, sometimes, particularly during 14th and 19th centuries when fear of leprosy was at a high point, admission to leprosariums was mandatory by all those diagnosed with or thought to have leprosy.

When the fear of leprosy was rampant in societies across Europe and Asia there was also an associated rise in crime levels and overall dissatisfaction amongst the population. The leprosariums created during these times had multiple benefits: first, they provided treatment and safe living quarters for all lepers that were admitted; secondly, they eased tension amongst the healthy townspeople; and thirdly, they provided for a more stable populace for the authorities to govern.