Every year on the last Sunday of January, World Leprosy Day (Leprosy) is celebrated.
This date was established in 1953, thanks to the French writer and philanthropist Raoul Follerot, as a reminder that the scourge of leprosy that horrified the whole world during the Middle Ages has not been completely eradicated. Since 1954, the date has been celebrated annually at the initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO). In a number of regions of the world, the incidence of leprosy, although not at a high level, remains regular, and patients with leprosy are subject to discrimination.
At the same time, WHO calls for education regarding this disease, explaining the causes of its occurrence, preventive hygienic measures, principles of disease transmission, and forms of its manifestation.
WHO pays special attention to the fact that people suffering from the disease should not be in any way infringed on their rights and subject to any type of discrimination. These calls are not unfounded and are based on the harsh practice of combating leprosy and lepers developed during the Middle Ages.
Leprosy or leprosy was known back in the Ancient World. Mentions of this disease can even be found in the Holy Scriptures. Such ancient civilizations as Egypt, India and China also knew about it. For Europe, leprosy became a real scourge around the 11th century, when it became quite widespread. The manifestation of a disease that affects the skin, peripheral nervous system, mucous membranes of the upper respiratory tract, and disfigures the appearance of a person was considered very dangerous, easily transmitted from person to person and caused horror.
This perception gave rise to appropriate measures against sick people who turned into outcasts, were expelled from cities and villages, and later sent to closed institutions called leper colonies. Leprosy spared no one. Both peasants and representatives of the nobility and feudal lords suffered from it. The patient was considered doomed.
Back in the 6th century, the monks of the Order of St. Lazarus devoted themselves to caring for patients with leprosy, but later the practice of identifying patients in leper colonies began to prevail, which were initially not medical institutions, but were a kind of isolation wards. It was forbidden to leave the territory of the leper colony. Often leper colonies were located at monasteries.
Despite the severity, quarantine measures along with the development of personal hygiene bore fruit, and the disease in Europe began to recede by the end of the 17th century. Regarding leprosy, a number of scientists agree that its causative agent was replaced by a more aggressive causative agent of another disease, – tuberculosis.
However, although in Europe leprosy has practically disappeared and the number of diseases has dropped to a minimum, in a number of regions (mainly with hot climates) leprosy foci still persist. A larger number of diseases are registered in India, Burma, Vietnam, Nepal, Brazil, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Madagascar.
In 1873, Norwegian researcher Gerhard Hansen discovered the leprosy pathogen – Mycobacterium leprae. This discovery gave the disease a new (alternative) name – Hansen's disease. Further studies of the disease have established that the pathogen enters the human body most often through damage to the skin, and is transmitted by airborne droplets with close contact with the infected person. The incubation period of the disease, which is asymptomatic, lasts from 3 to 5 years, but this interval can range from 6 months to 20 years.
An important condition for curing – yes, the disease is cured – is its early detection. The later the disease is diagnosed, the more complex and lengthy the course of treatment and the higher the likelihood of disability. A number of researchers point to individuals' predisposition to leprosy caused by a certain defect in DNA. For such people, the likelihood of infection with leprosy in unfavorable regions with the greatest prevalence of the disease is much higher, and the cause of the disease may be more likely to be contact with a mycobacterium of damaged skin.
Together with the efforts of health authorities from different countries and research medical institutions, new methods of treating leprosy and rehabilitation measures for sick and post-illness people are being developed.
WHO calls for understanding of people suffering from this terrible disease. Addressing international human rights organizations, as well as government officials from all countries, doctors urge them to provide support to low-income families whose members are susceptible to leprosy.
It is noted that in a number of countries where leprosy outbreaks are present, laws of a discriminatory nature against people suffering from this disease still apply not only at the public, but also at the state level. The UN and WHO call on the authorities of these states to repeal laws that discriminate against people suffering from the disease.