Leprosy: Social implications from antiquity to the present

One of the most important dermatologic diseases from the sociologic viewpoint has been leprosy. Those with leprosy were isolated, excluded from society, and stigmatized. Such a stigma indicates the strong feeling that a leprosy patient is shameful and should not be accepted by society. During the first millennium, leprosy was rapidly inscribed in the system of religious prohibitions—the disease was a punishment by God for wrongdoing, and the disease was associated with the lower spheres of the society.

Source: Clinics in Dermatology - January 1, 2016 Category: Dermatology Authors: Andrzej Grzybowski, Jarosław Sak, Jakub Pawlikowski, Małgorzata Nita Source Type: research