Leprosy

Today's selection -- from Get Well Soon by Jennifer Wright.

Leprosy and the island of Molokai: "People have been very afraid of [leprosy] from the beginning of recorded history. It is mentioned in the Bible, where it is often associated with sin. Leviticus 13:45-46 says: 'And the leper in whom the plague [is], his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean. All the days wherein the plague [shall be] in him he shall be defiled; he [is] unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp [shall] his habitation [be].' "Sunday school teachings notwithstanding, this is not true. Leprosy has nothing to do with whether someone has a shiny, clean soul or body. No diseases have anything to do with anyone's soul. Leprosy is a bacterial disease, caused by Mycobacterium leprae. The Norwegian doctor Gerhard Hansen identified the bacterial cause in 1873, and the disease today is often called Hansen's disease. .../.../