Treating Leprosy in Norway
1847, Bergen (esboço), 1895, Bergen (foto), (Norway)
1 page, coloured sketch on paper, 1 black and white photo; sketch: 59 × 44 cm, photograph: 24,5 × 32,5 cm (cardboard), 15 × 20 cm (photograph)
The Leprosy
Museum in Bergen
St. Jørgen Hospital, Johan Ludvig Losting Atlas colorie de
spedalskhet
The Leprosy Museum in Bergen
St. Jørgen Hospital
Leprosy, also known as Hansen’s disease (HD), is a long-term infection by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae, which has been a part of human history for at least 3,500 years. Leprosy has been associated with degraded living conditions and the lack of hygiene throughout the centuries. It was always a problem of the poor and remains a scourge in some parts of the world today.
Few diseases elicit such images of suffering and physical deformation as leprosy; even fewer attracted such severe practices of ostracism and the social rejection of patients.
In the 19th century, leprosy was discovered areas of Norway. Norwegian authorities took an interest in the problem at an early stage. The University of Oslo began training physicians in 1816, and leprosy soon became the focus of Norwegian medical science, with Bergen playing a key role in leprosy research during the 19th century.
Indeed, it was Dr. Gerhard Henrik Armauer Hansen (1841-1912), who identified Mycobacterium leprae as the root cause of the disease, in 1873.This discovery was a major advance, proving that leprosy was infectious and caused by germs, and thus unrelated to hereditary transmission.
The Leprosy Archives of Bergen document this breakthrough, although they deal with patients in Norway, its documents are relevant for the history of this disease and this stigmatised group of people in general.