Page Sec1:35 - Labyrint 2013 - English Edition

Leprosy still rages
Leprosy is
unfortunately not
only found in history
books. Ørjan Olsvik,
a professor of
microbiology from the
University of Tromsø,
has studied the disease
up close.
A young mother sits on a bed, with
a healthy child on her lap. An idyllic
picture, you may think, but wait. What
if you find out that the mother has
major deformities on her skin? She is in
fact a leper, is highly infectious and has
therefore been abandoned by her hus-
band. Unfortunately, this is no fictional
situation, but real. The year is 2012, and
leprosy rampages still.
“The so-called old diseases are of interest
to me, because they always come back,”
says Ørjan Olsvik, a professor of micro-
biology at the University of Tromsø’s
Faculty of Health Sciences.
Newly infected
Olsvik recently visited Ethiopia to see
leprosy for himself, and encountered
many cases.
“I had expected to meet one or two
lepers, but I met many. Several had
completely new infections,” says Olsvik,
whose responsibilities include teaching
medical students at the University of
Tromsø about these “old” diseases.
“It is important that tomorrow’s doc-
tors are familiar with leprosy, because
diseases that we think have died out
are coming back. Just look at cholera,
syphilis, and polio. We thought we were
rid of them, but these diseases can sneak
up on us if we are not actively fighting
them,” he says.
A feared disease
You may know leprosy best from Bible
stories, but you may also have heard
about it from the best seller, “The
Island,” by Victoria Hislop, who wrote
a moving story about the lepers of Crete
who were forcibly sent to the island of
Spinalonga.
Leprosy has always been feared. Even
University of Tromsø – Labyrint E/13 ••• 35
Aktuelt: Spedalskhet
Tekst og foto: Elisabeth Øvreberg
Text: Elisabeth Øvreberg
I had expected to meet one or two
lepers, but I met many.
Professor Ørjan Olsvik
“
The leprosy bacterium can destroy limbs. This woman
lives in a home for lepers in Ethiopia, and is able to weave
even though the disease has “eaten up” her hands. Photo:
Signe Ringertz