Leprosy

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in China by the fifth-century BCE and in Egypt as early as the second-century BCE. The disease is believed to have spread to Europe in the first-century BCE by Roman soldiers returning from war in Egypt. Its existence in Europe was first documented by Aractus and Galen in approximately 150 CE (Skillicorn). It is believed to have been spread from Europe to the Americas and South Pacific islands by European colonists. The disease became universally known as Hansen's disease in 1873 after a Norwegian scientist, Dr. Armauer Hansen, discovered the bacterium that causes the disease, which eventually served to end the myth that the disease was a curse of God (Skillicorn).

The disease is caused by a slowly multiplying bacillus, called Mycobacterium leprae, which primarily affects the nerves, skin, and mucous membranes (Hansen's Disease). Scientists are still unable to cultivate the organism in any bacteriological media, although it has been successfully grown on the foot pads of mice. ...

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