India has the greatest number of cases, about one million presently, which may continue significantly to the problem of stigma. With such a large part of the population affected, the fear of contracting the disease may be greater.
In Southern Nigeria, the native name for leprosy is Opo-and is seldom used fear that the repetition could cause the sickness to come upon the speaker. The supernatural agencies, heredity or by poisons. In most cases the leper is isolated when recognized, but if the family is wealthy the attempt is resisted and money is spent in making the disease non-dangerous. When isolation is complete, a hut is built far from the town, and the leper isn’t allowed to leave until the morning has passed. It’s an evil thing to see the leper in the morning; it’s necessary to undergo some ceremonial cleansing and sacrifice so the sickness will not result. The disease is so feared that people are always on the watch. In some towns, elders make periodical inspections of all the inhabitants.
When a man goes to see the parents of the prospective bride, he goes in a native dress, a loin cloth. Until he is married he assists in the farm of his bride’s parents during which time the couple have an opportunity to assure themselves that they are both free from infection. No man will wrestle an opponent that is fully clothed. Anyone who is fully clothed is under suspicion, and at village feasts, native costume is the official dress.
The death of the leper is a sordid end to a miserable existence. In many places murder was the only effective prophylactic known. Generally the leper isn’t allowed to die in the town, if it can be avoided. Just before the end, men hired for the occasion and fortified with an antidote, escort the sufferer to the “bad brush”, and watch to make sure that the leper doesn’t return. In other cases, the grave is prepared just outside the house and the leper is pushed inside while still alive. Immediately death takes place, the grave is closed, the house broken up, and a fire lit over the grave to destroy the sickness as it leaves the body to enter someone else. “Currently there are about 1.8 million cases of leprosy in the world, with about five hundred thousand new cases each year. Of those, approximately one hundred thousand of those cases are children.”
“Approximately four thousand of those patients with leprosy live in the United States, with about two hundred and fifty to three hundred new cases reported each year. According to Frank Parker, MD, the new cases are not contracted in the United States, but appear in people who have spent time in foreign countries, especially in the South Pacific.
Between two and three million people have deformities due to leprosy. The disease today is most prevalent in tropical countries, although the climate has little to do with its spread. Five countries-Brazil, India, Indonesia, Myanmar and Nigeria, accounting for eighty percent of the cases.”
The World Health Organization, the United Nations Systems autonomous unit that has its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, has adopted a resolution calling for reduction of leprosy’s prevalence, to less than one case per 10,000 population. The assembly believes it would no longer be a public threat, by the year 2000. The organization is testing a new drug treatment program in seven-nation trial involving 4,000 patients.
Some solutions given by experts to decrease the stigma towards leprosy patients are to stop using the word “leprosy” and use “Hansen’s Disease” instead. Another suggestion is to educate the public about the disease.
” “The leper who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let his hair hang loose, and he shall chant ‘unclean, unclean’. He is to remain unclean until he no longer has the disease; he is unclean. He shall dwell alone in a habitation outside the camp.”(Leviticus 13:45, Revised Standard Version)”
A social stigma surrounding leprosy has existed since biblical times and remains in cultures around the world up to the present. Understanding the history and cultural basis of this attitude is an important step in changing it. Stigma is defined as “a mark of shame or discredit”. Leprosy has been written about since biblical times. These writings show an ignorance of the disease by the general public, which is in turn passed down from generation to generation by folktales, beliefs and about how the disease is transmitted and the attitudes held towards the people with leprosy.
Probably the most well known negative references to leprosy are contained in the Bible. Some of these quotations are as follows:
“?And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him saying, ‘Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.’ And he stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, ‘I will; be clean’. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. (Matthew, Chapter 8, Verses 2 and 3)
-And a leper came to him, beseeching him, and kneeling said to him, ‘If you will, you can make me clean.’ Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, ‘I will; be clean.’ And immediately he was made clean. (Mark, Chapter1, Verses 40-42)
-While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy; and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and besought him, ‘Lord, if you can make me clean.’ And he stretched out his hand, and touched him saying, ‘I will; be clean.’ And immediately the leprosy left him. (Luke, Chapter 5, Verses 12 and 13)
-And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices and said, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.’ When he saw them he said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed turned back, praising God with a loud voice. (Luke, Chapter17, Verses 12-15)
Some experts believe that the disease described in these passages was not leprosy, in many cases, but may have been several different skin diseases altogether. Many chronic, incurable and terrible diseases have been confused with leprosy over course of time. According to one article, a skin disease appears to be able to change appearance in a short period of time, one or two weeks and might even undergo complete remission. On the contrary, present day leprosy is a chronic disease that changes very slowly and with current multi-drug therapy, can take up to two years to cure.”
The interaction between leprosy bacilli and armadillos is one of the great oddities of science, because each species is unique in its own right. “The leprosy bacillus, cause of the oldest infectious disease known in the Old World had never been growth in animals or test tubes.” “The armadillo, a living fossil that lived in splendid isolation in South America for most of its history, hasn’t changed much since the extinction of dinosaurs.” “Linking the two together was a historic improbability. Even stranger, was finding that armadillos in Louisiana were already infected with leprosy. Since people aren’t familiar with either leprosy or armadillos, it follows that practically no one is familiar with both. But we have concluded that sufferers with leprosy and armadillos have one thing in common-leprosy.”
Leprosy isn’t highly communicable and is slow to develop. “Most people aren’t even resistant to the disease.” Leprosy is very curable with a long-term treatment regimen of various drugs. Nevertheless, many misconceptions are passed on, even in the United States where leprosy isn’t a significant problem. Despite the advances of modern technology, many people continue to hold old and outdated beliefs about leprosy, as proven in this report. Many people still believe that leprosy isn’t curable and the only way to protect the public is by quarantine. The treatment of people with leprosy is similar to the treatment of those affected by another epidemic, AIDS. Society perceives contiguousness and risk of both diseases, in many cases, incorrectly, which gives rise to stigma in both cases. The solution in both cases is better education on both subjects.