Suddenly yesterday, I was beset by tales of leprosy, or Hansen's disease, as it is now called. First, the local paper reported a heartwarming story about a group of women in Falls Church, Virginia, who were knitting bandages for lepers in Vietnam - a worthy cause, indubitably. Later in the day, a speaker at an event I attended happened to refer to an incident in his past when a prominent American visitor to a foreign country was asked publicly to lay hands upon a sufferer from Hansen's. And that made me reflect on my own experiences of lepers in Africa years ago. I recall at one time buying grilled skewered meat from a leper in Sierra Leone, but more vivid was New Year's day of 1974, when a couple of friends and I spent a day visiting a leper "colony" in Liberia, basically a village to which lepers were banished to keep them isolated.
The colony was also a mission at which the medical and spiritual needs of the afflicted were treated by a U.S. Episcopal missionary and a small local staff. It was an enlightening experience; I learned that the disease is caused by a bacterium, that it carries a very low risk of contagion (such that people who work in leper treatment facilities like this do not generally fear contracting the disease); and that it is treatable with what we might now call a "cocktail" of drugs. One last, very noticeable fact: I found, as did the prominent citizen mentioned earlier, that lepers very much long for the touch of those who don't have the disease. I suppose it's a validation of their human dignity, and a confirmation that the disfiguring disease is not completely repulsive to "others." So yes, we shook hands with many of the inhabitants that day, and attended a worship service with them.
Leprosy continues to crop up in the world. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports about 700,000 new cases per year worldwide, with 70% of those occurring in just three countries: India, Indonesia, and Myanmar. But it still exists in the U.S. (see the National Hansen's Disease Clinical Center near Baton Rouge, Louisiana, which offers diagnosis, information, and treatments). It's less widespread than it was, and it's better understood (though still not well understood).
Overall, I believe the Hansen's story is "good news." The disease is less prevalent now than it was five decades ago; with increased understanding, progress is being made, and it's no longer so scary, either for those who have it, or those who don't.
Comments