Page Sec1:37 - Labyrint 2013 - English Edition

The Greek island of Spinalonga became world famous as a result of the popular book, “The Island” by Victoria Hislop. Lepers were forcibly sent to this island, where they had to build
their own community with houses, schools and markets. No one was ever allowed to leave the island once they had been sent there. Photo: colourbox.com
Did you know that ­
the leprosy bacterium
was discovered by a
­Norwegian?
Leprosy, sometimes called Hansen’s
disease, has disfigured and crippled mil-
lions of people for more than 3000 years.
It was Gerhard Armauer Hansen (1841
- 1912) from Bergen who first discovered
the leprosy bacillus and proved that it
actually caused leprosy, and that the dis-
ease is contagious, not hereditary. This
discovery was ground-breaking and has
been crucial to the fight against leprosy.
Thus, Hansen was and is a shining star,
especially in the international medical
world. In Norway, on the other hand, he
is hardly known. The reason is that he
was convicted of an ethical offense after
having called one of the female leprosy
patients into his office, and stabbed her
in the eye without warning with a needle
that had just been stuck into another
leper patient’s lesions.
Armauer Hansen discovered microscopic
rod-shaped bodies in the skin lesions of
lepers. He became convinced that this
rod-shaped organism was the cause
of the disease. He tried to cultivate the
bacterium in the laboratory so he could
transfer it to animals, but was unable to
cause the animals to develop leprosy.
Other researchers had previously tried
to cause leprosy in themselves without
developing signs of disease.
There was an uproar in the Leprosy
Hospital because of the incident in the
office. Several witnesses were present
when Armauer Hansen put the needle
in the eye of the woman, and they were
also prosecuted in court. The court found
Armauer Hansen guilty of a violation of
criminal law, and he was removed from
his position at the Leprosy Hospital in
Bergen in 1880.
Source: Fagbladet forskningsetikk (Research ­Ethics
Journal)
University of Tromsø – Labyrint E/13 ••• 37