Conquering the Millennium Leprosy: The Highlight of Human Anti-epidemic History in the 20th Century

Author: Shurui Chen of Nagoya University

This was a disease that once terrified people. Even until the second half of the last century, humans were still limited in their means of dealing with it. Patients would have to endure the torture of physical mutilation and the pain of being forced to isolate themselves from the world during the course of the disease, which lasted for decades. Fortunately, the progress made in fields such as microbiology and antibiotic development in the 20th century has been enough to allow humans to tame this devil that once hid in the dark. The victory over leprosy and the discrimination it caused is undoubtedly a highlight in the history of human anti-epidemic efforts in the 20th century.

The source of evil thousands of years ago

Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium leprae disseminated. It can harm the skin, eyes, nose, liver, bones, nerves and other parts of the human body. After the disease, granulomas will appear in the patient's nervous system, respiratory tract, skin and eyes, causing the affected area to lose pain perception, often causing repeated injuries to the limbs and requiring amputation, and may also cause symptoms of weakness and poor vision. Leprosy is mainly transmitted through droplets but is actually very weakly contagious. Patients will not show symptoms in the early stages of infection, and the incubation period can be up to 5 to 20 years.

Leprosy has been prevalent in the world for thousands of years. As early as 2400 BC, there were records of leprosy in Egyptian papyrus books; the word "leprosy" appeared in the Indian Sanskrit classics in 1400 BC; in ancient China, there are records about the late Yin Dynasty and early Zhou Dynasty (1066 BC), saying that "Ji Zi painted his body to look like leprosy to avoid the disaster of killing himself", which shows that Ji Zi's disease was fake, but leprosy had indeed appeared in China at that time. In the Sui and Tang Dynasties, leprosy hospitals appeared, named "Li Ren Fang". In the Song Dynasty, Su Dongpo's ridicule of "The wind is rising, the eyebrows are flying, how can I find a brave man to protect the bridge of my nose" was a mockery of Liu Xu, a friend who suffered from leprosy, using Liu Bang's poem.

Because leprosy was incurable, the words "I have leprosy" were enough to make relatives and friends flee ten miles away. Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, leprosy was incurable. For patients with this "incurable disease", apart from sympathy, they were brutally killed. The government took measures such as expelling, burying alive, burning, and shooting leprosy patients, which made people more afraid of leprosy, because leprosy became a "crime" punishable by death at that time.

Leprosy from exposure to sunlight

In the late 19th century, European medical scientists clearly pointed out that leprosy is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae. In other words, scientists at this time had already given leprosy a proper name. This disease was not "divine punishment" or "retribution for cause and effect" as religions said. People began to gradually understand that it was unfortunate for leprosy patients to contract the disease.

Later research data from home and abroad showed that the infectiousness and incidence of leprosy are low, more than 90% of people have natural immunity to Mycobacterium leprae, and the incidence rate of family members who have close contact with leprosy patients is not high. More than 85% of families have no second case of leprosy.

In the 1940s, sulfone drugs developed by American scientists came out, ushering in a new era of leprosy chemotherapy. In the late 1940s, medical staff found that oral dapsone could effectively kill Mycobacterium leprae, and a large number of patients were cured. In the 1980s, the World Health Organization promoted combined chemotherapy to treat leprosy. Since then, the disease has been curable, people have gradually come out of unnecessary fear, and patients have actively accepted diagnosis and treatment. In the following 20 years, the number of leprosy patients worldwide has dropped by 95%, and leprosy has gradually withdrawn from people's attention.

We must not only defeat disease, but also defeat discrimination

New China's leprosy prevention, control and treatment work began in the early 1950s. In 1950, the Central Ministry of Health proposed to help leprosy patients and provide them with living assistance. In the following two years, the Ministry of Health opened advanced training courses in many medical colleges and universities to vigorously train leprosy prevention and control professionals. However, discrimination against leprosy patients still exists. Although the slogan of assistance is loud, most people still cannot accept leprosy patients.

The strange looks from others caused psychological harm to leprosy patients, and the severe situation of concentrated leprosy patients in some areas was an important reason for the establishment of leprosy villages. Leprosy villages concentrated leprosy patients and controlled the spread of the disease while isolating and rescuing them. As the number of patients admitted to leprosy villages gradually increased, a large-scale collective was formed, most of whom were young and strong laborers. Therefore, the Communist Party members and production activists among the patients formed a party branch. People built water conservancy projects, reclaimed farmland, and planted trees. While treating their diseases, the patients returned to their old trades. There were people from various industries in the village, such as tailors, blacksmiths, and barbers. They worked actively under the organization, regained confidence, and embarked on the road of self-sufficiency.

An island watered by human love

The first novel of British writer Victoria Hillrop, The Island, tells the story of the fight against leprosy on the Greek island of Crete, represented by the Petkis family. The Petkis family's struggle from despair to regaining hope, and their unremitting search from pain to light, let people see the hope in the sad life, and what washes away the filth and brings warmth is the great love of human beings.

The Petrus family includes several generations. The first generation, Irene, had her life destroyed by leprosy, the second generation, Maria, had her life destroyed but was finally reborn, the third generation, Sofia, was ashamed when her relatives suffered from illness but eventually returned to her hometown led by her daughter, and the fourth generation, Alexis, was inspired by the stories of previous generations and found herself.

The struggle of this family in the face of the disease is a microcosm of leprosy patients and their relatives in society at that time. Some people resisted strongly, radiating the light of humanity; others evaded and concealed the truth, and were scared away before the disease even arrived. This shows the cowardice of the dark side of human nature. The "island" is where the tragedy began, but the people on the island who actively cooperated with the treatment lived and worked in peace and contentment, eventually overcame the disease, and returned to their families. This "dark" island eventually became a paradise.