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MEDICAL PHILATELY
MEDICAL PHILATELY Leprosy to Hansen% Disease • A Journey ~ .hepresentday generation of students of medicine may fall to comprehendthe scale of misery brought to human race by leprosy. We need to revisit the history of leprosy to understand the behaviour of society towards victims of incurable diseasesNothing certain IS known about the ongln of leprosy except that it IS the oldest and historically the most avoided disease known tc man. In Hindu mythology, God RamaIS said to have contracted KushthaRog but he was cured by taking a medicine made from fruit of Chaulmoogra tree. The renowned Indian physician Sushruta. refers to leprosy In 'Sushruta Samhita'as early as 600 Be. Hippocrates who lived around 450 BC did not mention about leprosy. It IS believed that Roman soldiers in Pcmpey s Army took the disease with them from Egypt to Italy In 62 BC. The disease spread t-orn Italy throughout Europe In Middle Ages. Leprosy IS also mentioned In Bible, wneretheword 'Leprous' or Leprosy appears 54 times.
Leprosy was considered to De a curse. Its victims were subject to a lot of social stigma as it was incurable and caused horrendous deformities. Patients of Leprosy were segregated In what were called 'Lazarets' or Leprosaria which numbered thousands throughout Europe during Middle Ages. Leprosy was referred to as living death. Lepers were qiven mock funerals called lepers mass before being thrown out of society. BritiSh Oovemment of India did not lag behind and enacted the cruel "1898 Leper Act" Tl'is condemned lepers to a subhuman life, as outcasts of society In lepercoloniesor asy1ums A humble beginningto end socialstigma of leprosy was made with tnediscovery of the causativeagent of leprosy by Hansen Dr. Gerhard Arrnauer Hansen (1841-" 912). born on 29 July 1841 at Bergen (Norway) was the eighth in the family of 15 children. He studied medicine in Oslo, developing a special interest In pathological anatomy In the spnng of1868, Dr. Hansen returned to hisbirth place Bergen 10 work under the world known leprologist Dr. Danielssen (Hansen married Dr Danielssen s daughterlater) Hediscovered Mycobacterium/epree as small rods moving In the field he was studying on a rainy evening on 28 February 1873. Hansen's discovery was confirmed In 1879 by Albert Neisser(1855-1916) who employed trle staining techniques developed by Robert Koch. Manycountriesissuedstamps to commemoratethe centenary of discoveryof Leprabacillus In 1973 India issued 50p deep brown stamp (P1 3) on 21 July 1973 the stamp depicted Dr. Hansen looking through microscope. Oil of Chaulmoogra, the only ava lable treatment of leprosyforcemuries had little real success. Use of Dapsone for treatment of leprosyby DrFaget, an American Physician In 1541 was an Important milestone Inhistory of leprosy Multi drug treatment (MDT) of leprosy changed the entire spectrum of this dreaded disease and it was responsible for dream of world free from leprosy The magn tude of leprosy has decreased considerably allover the world specially after use of MDT. National Leorosycontrol programme of Indiawas redesign&d as National Leprosyeradication programmer 1983.There were approximately 1 32 million cases of leprosy world wide in June 1993 About 5 to 7 lac cases of leprosy are newly diagnosed everyyear inthe world Morethan 10 million cases have been cured with multi drug therapy. The leprosy problem has been recuced by 85% world wide In last 10-1 2 years However India still has 60% of globally recorded patients of leprosy. Five states I.eBihar, West Bengal, Orissa, UP and MP contribute 70% of Indian leprosypatients. The problem of leprosy has declined remarkably allover the world but we definitely need to pus? some mote herd work before the disease can he eliminated, The word leper was associated with so much social stigma that physicians started calling leprosy as Hansen's disease This was done more to avoid stigma of leprosy than to honour Dr. Hansen. This Journey from eprosy to Hansen's disease has been very long and arduous one T'iis Journey signifies triumph of man over a historical disease. but this will also remind us alwaysabout selfish and irrational behaviourof man towards help essvictims of incurablediseases,
Contributed by : Col KP Anand*, LtCol J Outta~ Lt Gen VD Tiwari # 'Associate Professor, Deparbnent of Medicine, 'Associate Professor, Department of Preventive and 'Commandant, Armed Forces Medical College, Pune 411 040.
Social MeClicine,
Leprosy was considered to De a curse. Its victims were subject to a lot of social stigma as it was incurable and caused horrendous deformities. Patients of Leprosy were segregated In what were called 'Lazarets' or Leprosaria which numbered thousands throughout Europe during Middle Ages. Leprosy was referred to as living death. Lepers were qiven mock funerals called lepers mass before being thrown out of society. BritiSh Oovemment of India did not lag behind and enacted the cruel "1898 Leper Act" Tl'is condemned lepers to a subhuman life, as outcasts of society In lepercoloniesor asy1ums A humble beginningto end socialstigma of leprosy was made with tnediscovery of the causativeagent of leprosy by Hansen Dr. Gerhard Arrnauer Hansen (1841-" 912). born on 29 July 1841 at Bergen (Norway) was the eighth in the family of 15 children. He studied medicine in Oslo, developing a special interest In pathological anatomy In the spnng of1868, Dr. Hansen returned to hisbirth place Bergen 10 work under the world known leprologist Dr. Danielssen (Hansen married Dr Danielssen s daughterlater) Hediscovered Mycobacterium/epree as small rods moving In the field he was studying on a rainy evening on 28 February 1873. Hansen's discovery was confirmed In 1879 by Albert Neisser(1855-1916) who employed trle staining techniques developed by Robert Koch. Manycountriesissuedstamps to commemoratethe centenary of discoveryof Leprabacillus In 1973 India issued 50p deep brown stamp (P1 3) on 21 July 1973 the stamp depicted Dr. Hansen looking through microscope. Oil of Chaulmoogra, the only ava lable treatment of leprosyforcemuries had little real success. Use of Dapsone for treatment of leprosyby DrFaget, an American Physician In 1541 was an Important milestone Inhistory of leprosy Multi drug treatment (MDT) of leprosy changed the entire spectrum of this dreaded disease and it was responsible for dream of world free from leprosy The magn tude of leprosy has decreased considerably allover the world specially after use of MDT. National Leorosycontrol programme of Indiawas redesign&d as National Leprosyeradication programmer 1983.There were approximately 1 32 million cases of leprosy world wide in June 1993 About 5 to 7 lac cases of leprosy are newly diagnosed everyyear inthe world Morethan 10 million cases have been cured with multi drug therapy. The leprosy problem has been recuced by 85% world wide In last 10-1 2 years However India still has 60% of globally recorded patients of leprosy. Five states I.eBihar, West Bengal, Orissa, UP and MP contribute 70% of Indian leprosypatients. The problem of leprosy has declined remarkably allover the world but we definitely need to pus? some mote herd work before the disease can he eliminated, The word leper was associated with so much social stigma that physicians started calling leprosy as Hansen's disease This was done more to avoid stigma of leprosy than to honour Dr. Hansen. This Journey from eprosy to Hansen's disease has been very long and arduous one T'iis Journey signifies triumph of man over a historical disease. but this will also remind us alwaysabout selfish and irrational behaviourof man towards help essvictims of incurablediseases,
Contributed by : Col KP Anand*, LtCol J Outta~ Lt Gen VD Tiwari # 'Associate Professor, Deparbnent of Medicine, 'Associate Professor, Department of Preventive and 'Commandant, Armed Forces Medical College, Pune 411 040.
Social MeClicine,