Page Sec1:36 - Labyrint 2013 - English Edition

today, the word “leper” is used as an
insult, but few realize that this grotesque
disease still affects people.
“There are 3000-5000 new cases in
Ethiopia alone, and the worst is that the
disease is easily treated. I have also seen
a case here in Tromsø,” says Olsvik.
According to the Norwegian Institute of
Public Health, 19 cases of leprosy were
reported in Norway from 1977-2009.
There are 150 new cases reported in the
United States each year.
In 2008, the World Health ­Organization
reported about 249 000 new cases of
leprosy. Ten per cent of cases are in
children. Leprosy is a significant public
health problem in many countries in
Southeast Asia, tropical Africa and parts
of South America. Approximately 70
per cent of leprosy cases in the world are
reported from India.
Destroys nerve cells
While people in the West live without
fear of leprosy, the disease still rages
among the world’s poorest.
“It’s difficult to look at these pictures.
Even if you yourself are not affected by
the disease, you get a sense of the terrible
suffering it causes,” says Olsvik, as he
shares images of new leprosy cases in
Ethiopia.
Some of the patients he met on a study
trip there had been so severely attacked
by leprosy that they had lost both arms
and legs, because one characteristic of
the leprosy bacterium is that it destroys
the skin, bones and flesh. It sounds terri-
bly painful, but many of patients actually
do not feel pain. The leprosy bacterium
first attacks the peripheral nervous
system. The infection paralyzes the
nerves in the skin so the patient develops
numbness. The typical leprosy patient
can burn his or her hands while cook-
ing, and a stone in the shoe can quickly
cause ugly wounds, called secondary
sores. These wounds often get infected,
and eventually the bacterium completely
destroys tissues, especially fingers and
toes.
Gnawed on by rats
When the leprosy bacterium ravaged
Norway in the 1800s, a separate leper
hospital was established in Bergen to
treat patients. You could then see what
might result from damaged nerve cells,
because according to the Bergen City
Museum, St. Jørgen’s Hospital for lep-
ers was plagued with rats. Rats are not
themselves hosts for leprosy, but both
mice and rats still managed to inflict a
great deal of damage on leprosy patients.
Rats and mice were able to gnaw undis-
turbed on sleeping patients, because the
patients had open wounds that were also
without feeling.
Shunned and stigmatized
In Ethiopia, Olsvik saw with his own
eyes the severe and serious secondary
wounds that are often found in leprosy
patients.
“I saw a lot of damage, especially on the
feet, since many go barefoot,” he said.
Leprosy can cause circulatory failure and
can also attack internal organs. If the
disease is not treated with antibiotics, it
can be fatal. Medical treatment stops the
disease and removes the infection, but it
does not repair the damage. Patients will
be marked for life.
“We thus have the problem of stigmati-
zation. Patients who have been success-
fully treated and are free of the disease
will never be rid of stigma of leprosy,
and are forever feared and shunned by
the community,” he says.
36 ••• Labyrint E/13 – University of Tromsø
Leprosy still rages
Leprosy still rages among the poorest. Ørjan Olsvik visited a leper centre in Ethiopia. Photo: Signe Ringertz