Probably, no one needs to explain who isleper or leper. These are people who suffer from leprosy - a serious infectious chronic disease that affects the skin, nervous system, eyes and some internal organs. This word came in Russian from the Late Latin language, where it sounds like leprosus, which is consonant with the Latin leprosorium.
In medical terms, a leper or leper is a patient who has a chronic granulomatosis caused by microbacteria Mycobacterium lepromatosis and Mycobacterium leprae.
The disease has been known since ancient times andmentioned in the Bible. Hyppocrates wrote about leprosy, but he probably confused her with psoriasis. In ancient India, they also knew about leprosy. And in the Middle Ages a lot of leprosariums appeared, as the disease passed into the stage of the epidemic. Thus, in the thirteenth century, according to Matvey Paris, the English historian, Benedictine, chronicler, in Europe, the number of lepers was 19 thousand people. The first known well enough was the leper colony of St. Nicholas in Harbledown, in the county of Kent, England.
In the Middle Ages, a leper or leper isoutcast society, doomed to death in terrible agony. Such a person was placed in a leper colony, sort of as to cure. But in fact, it was a quarantine, from which few people managed to get out alive. The fact is that leprosy is transmitted through discharge from the mouth and nose during frequent and close contacts with people. And in leprosarium contacts are more than close and frequent.
In the 90s of the last century, the number of lepersin the world fell from 10-12 million people to 1.8 million leprosy is mainly distributed in tropical countries, where nature created suitable conditions for the life of the microbacterium. Although the incidence rate has decreased, this disease is still quite widespread in India, Nepal, certain areas of Brazil, Tanzania, Mozambique, Madagascar and the West of the Pacific. The World Health Organization in 2000 published a list of countries with disease outbreaks. Burma ranks third in terms of the number of infected, Brazil - the second, and India - the first.
It is important to know that the incubation period in leprosyvery long, on average 4-6 years, and sometimes prolonged and for 10-15 years. The duration of drug therapy, depending on the degree and severity of the disease, can last from 3 to 10 years.
People suffering from this disease becameand heroes of literary works. So, in 1959 the novel of Georgiy Shilin "The Lepers" was reissued. The book describes the life of the leprosarium. It should be said that the author himself visited this institution on several occasions, visiting a sick friend there, and even lived there.
"Lepers" is a story about fatedifferent people who were in one place - in the leper colony. Each story touches and shakes to the core. Heroes are many, but the character of each is unique - they are difficult to get confused. So, the head doctor of the leprosarium, Dr. Turkeev, belongs to a rare type of people who are not interested in fame or money, and who give themselves all to serving the chosen cause. Gratis (unfortunately, the now forgotten word). Shilin's style is beautiful, emotional, bright, expressive.
In Poland in 1976 the film "Leprosy" was made. This is a love story of a simple girl and a nobleman who will not leave anyone indifferent.
Finally, we note that the lepers, whose photoscan be found in sufficient numbers on the Internet, are affected by this disease to varying degrees, and sometimes it is not visible for a person that he is ill. Therefore, observe the rules of personal hygiene, avoid close contact with people who are suspicious, especially if you are on holiday in tropical countries. Be healthy!
