Symptoms Of Leprosy

Leprosy is a disease known since at least Biblical times, when it was thought to be a disease of the unclean. Individuals with this condition were shunned and often forced to live in leper colonies among others with the same disease. There is a saying even sometimes used in modern times, 'to be treated like a leper,' which means to treat someone like a pariah or social outcast. Today, we know leprosy, also called Hansen's disease, is caused by a particular bacteria: Mycobacterium leprae. Leprosy is spread by close contact with infected individuals over a long period and cannot be casually transmitted.