Leprosy, otherwise called leprosy, has many other names: the disease of St. Lazarus, black sickness, mournful disease, lazy death. And also this ailment is called Hansen's disease (Hansen) - by the name of a Norwegian doctor who discovered in the 19th century and described her pathogen.
Lepers were not allowed to live with other people. They were forever banished from the cities and exiled to peculiar shelters or colonies. And in the article we will talk about what it is - a leper colony, and what are its features.
About the disease
Leprosy is a type of infectious disease caused by parasitic mycobacteria inside the cell. Without special painful manifestations, they affect mainly the patient's skin, as well as lymph nodes, muscles and the autonomic nervous system.
This disease was considered contagious to others until the 30s of the last century. However, according to modern data, only 30% of those who had contact with lepers are susceptible to it, and no more than 3% become ill with severe consequences.
The incubation period of the disease is quite long and can range from six months to 10 years. In some cases, it stretches to 20 years.
A characteristic symptom of this disease is the formation of folds on the skin of the face (the so-called lion's face). Far-reaching forms of leprosy without proper treatment are accompanied by even more terrifying changes: patients lose hair, eyelashes and eyebrows, finger phalanges, nostrils fall off, muscle atrophy sets in. Damage to the liver, kidneys and organs of vision are frequent.
A bit of history
Leprosy is the oldest disease known to mankind. It arose in countries with a hot climate, most likely in Asia. And from here began to spread around the world: travelers and sailors brought it first to Africa and later to the countries of South America.
Patients with leprosy were mentioned in ancient Egyptian papyrus, as well as in the Talmud and the Bible. The Old Testament, for example, instructed:
When a person develops a tumor on his skin, a lichen or a white spot that resembles a leprosy ulcer, he should be brought to the high priest Aaron or one of his sons ... The high priest will examine the wound. If the hair on it turns white and it deepens under the skin of the body, this is a leprosy ulcer; the inspecting priest should declare the person’s body “unclean”.
The Bible also prescribed norms of social behavior for lepers: they should wear torn clothes, not cover their heads and in public places warn others with a cry about themselves: "Unclean!"
The French Inquisition and the Church Tribunal created by it believed that this disease was nothing but the curses sent by the Lord for grave transgressions. Inquisitors carried out several special rites over the unfortunate. The symbolic burial service, burial and expulsion from the cities - such was the fate of these people. Often their relatives lost their rights and were expelled. And this was not the worst of the outcomes - the Inquisition often simply sent "sinners" to the stake.
The houses and property of lepers should certainly be burned.
However, at that time the only salvation from most epidemics was such hygiene procedures: patients should be isolated from healthy ones as quickly as possible. No one tried to treat leprosy - the lepers were simply taken away to die.
The oldest leper colony
After a symbolic death for society, the diseased forever referred to places remote from human settlements. Outcasts were forbidden to approach cities and other settlements. Answering the question: what is this - leper colony, we can say that the ancient exclusion zones or colonies for lepers were a kind of prototype of such modern institutions.
Ill in ancient times lived, in fact, in a prison in the open air. Sometimes they built huts or took refuge from the weather in caves. They ate the fruits found. Those who left the territory of the asylum had to put on a heavy hoodie, put a hood on their faces and hang a bell on their neck. The sick crusaders carried the "Lazarus rattle" with them. All this was intended to warn others that "the living dead" walks among them.
One of the oldest leper colony was, for example, in the area of ​​Arbenut, in Armenia. Its appearance dates from about 270 AD.
In Europe and, in particular, in France, the opening of the first such institutions was associated with the appearance of the Crusaders, who were sick with leprosy, who brought it from campaigns. The largest number of European leper colony was discovered in the XII-XIII centuries.
Modern leper colony
And what is this - the leper colony of the 20th century? This is a special type of medical facility in which, depending on the severity of the disease, some patients lived permanently, some were placed for several years, and someone was treated on an outpatient basis. This specificity dictated the presence in the leper colony of the inpatient and outpatient departments, laboratories for the detection of diseases and epidemiological control, as well as everything that was necessary for those living in this village.
In the territory of this medical institution, residential buildings with personal plots for patients, workshops where patients could work as hard as possible, a shop and even their own boiler room were built. In a conditionally separated zone, but not far away, as a rule, there was a housekeeping and medical staff.
The leper colony in the USSR was maintained on budget money, and in capitalist countries it existed at the expense of charitable organizations and the Red Cross.
For example, one of the current institutions of this type - Egyptian Abu Zaabal - is located 40 km from Cairo. It was built in 1933 and is still operating today. The hospital has its own agricultural complex, which feeds patients and supplies vitamins.
However, today, when many medications have been found that make it possible to transfer the disease to a non-progressive stage, patients in most countries are not accepted to be placed in closed institutions.
Statistics
Russia at the beginning of the 19th century numbered 14 leper colony. It was also a medical institution, but a prison type. They were located mainly in the southern provinces and were kept on public funds. Patients lived there constantly, doing agricultural work and crafts.
Today in our country there are only three leper colony. One of them belongs to the Astrakhan Research Institute for the Study of Leprosy, the second to the Branch of the State Scientific Center for Dermatovenerology. It is located in the city of Sergiev Posad, Moscow Region.
Although today patients with leprosy can get rid of their ailment, its symptoms, causes and course are not completely understood. Research on this mysterious disease is ongoing. Moreover, according to the World Health Organization, in the middle of the 20th century, about 12 million carriers of the described pathology lived on the planet.
We hope that the terrible disease will still be completely defeated, and people will not have to figure out what it is - leprosory.