Tag: Leprosy
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I, Baldwin: Leper king of Jerusalem
Óscar Lamas FilgueiraValencia, Spain Baldwin IV (1161–1185), known as “the Leper King”, was king of Jerusalem during the late twelfth century. Despite developing leprosy in childhood, he ruled during a period of intense military and political instability and personally led his forces to a decisive victory against Saladin at the Battle of Montgisard in 1177.…
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Stigma and truth in Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier” (1926)
Shreya SharmaLondon, Ontario, Canada Throughout history, visible illness has been feared, medically and socially. Diseases with physical manifestations such as leprosy have carried a severe stigma, often leading to misdiagnoses, isolation, and discrimination. But what happens when fear, rather than science, dictates medical care? Arthur Conan Doyle’s short story “The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier”…
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Gerhard Armauer Hansen’s unethical person-to-person leprosy transmission experiment in 1879
Douglas LanskaMadison, Wisconsin, United States Norwegian physician Gerhard Armauer Hansen (1841–1912)1 is remembered for his discovery in 1873 of Mycobacterium leprae as the causative agent of leprosy. However, Hansen’s legacy also includes unethical behavior for which he was convicted and lost his post at the Leprosy Hospital in Bergen, Norway (although in a legal-political compromise…
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Complicating leprosy in the late medieval West
Juliana MenegakisSt. Andrews, Scotland Starting in the 1990s, Demaitre, Rawcliffe, and Touati revived the study of medieval leprosy, countering the traditional view that lepers were excluded from mainstream society.1 Traditionalists argued that medieval Europeans were inspired by Leviticus, which instructs priests on how to examine and cleanse people with a “defiling skin disease,” traditionally interpreted…
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Byzantine Emperor John Tzimisces: Murder, charity, & leprosy
Sally MetzlerChicago, Illinois, United States Few historical figures present singular profiles of good or evil. Often, the confluence of disparate actions molds the fame or infamy of great leaders. A prime example is Byzantine Emperor John Tzimisces (b. 925–d. 976). Though he rose to power through murder, he consistently displayed a marked benevolence towards the…
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Dr. Gerhard Hansen – A great discoverer
Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden “No great discovery was ever made without a bold guess.”—Isaac Newton Leprosy, from the Greek lepis, meaning scaly, has been known since antiquity. The disease was widespread in continental Europe and in Scandinavia, reaching its peak prevalence in the twelfth century.1 Leprosy was well established in Ireland in the tenth century. It…
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Biblical leprosy: A dermatologist’s perspective
Harry GoldinSkokie, Illinois, United States The descriptions of “leprosy” in chapter 13 of the Book of Leviticus in the Hebrew Bible are complex and difficult to understand. This confusion has led to misleading modern English translations of biblical “leprosy” such as “malignant,”1 “contagious,”2 and “virulent”3 skin disease. The preferred term for the biblical “leprosy” is…
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Palo Seco: A leper colony in Panama
Enrique Chaves-CarballoOverland Park, Kansas The history of leprosy goes back to antiquity and is replete with unscientific prejudices, including the belief that the disease was highly contagious. Therefore, lepers were ostracized from society. It was not until the nineteenth century that Armauer Hansen (1841–1912), a Norwegian physician versed in histopathology, published in 1874 his findings…
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Leprosy and armadillos: Handle with care
Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden Leprosy (Hansen’s disease) is a chronic, disfiguring, and handicapping infectious disease. It was known in the ancient world, and evidence of the disease has been found from 2000 B.C.1 In the sixth and seventh centuries it spread in Europe, peaking in incidence in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.2 The disease may have…
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Robert the Bruce
Robert the Bruce and leprosy King Robert I of the Scots (1274–1329), better known as Robert the Bruce, is revered in Scotland as a national hero. He is principally remembered for defeating the English at Bannockburn in 1314 and thereby restoring the independence of Scotland for several centuries. He presents a medical as well as…