LEPROSY; A Disease Worse Than Others

In church today, the sermon dwelt on issues, topical issues. The priest (for I am a Roman Catholic) centered his sermon on a leprosy and lepers as in the bible. At first I got the whole analogy he tried to make; trying to let us know of the deprivation and neglect a leper suffers; but all that is regained in Jesus Christ who truly liberates us from our limitations.

 But while he spoke, I kept thinking of the reason for the actions that the early Jews took. Leprosy makes a person unclean and that person is cast out of society until wholeness is regained. A leper had to announce his entrance into any place by ringing out loud a bell tied to his waist. It was that bad.

Leprosy, also known as Hansen's Disease, is a chronic infection caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae.
The disease takes its name from from the latin word 'leprae', which means "scaly". The name "Hansen's disease", is named after the physician, Gerhard Armauer Hansen, who discovered it.

The symptoms that develop may include complications from respiratory tract, eye, skin and the nerves. It usually would involve loss of extremities due to a gradual loss of sensation to limbs and consequent repeated injuries. Weakness and poor sight may also be seen.

Leprosy is curable with treatment. Some agents that are used in the treatment of leprosy includes Dapsone, rifampicin, clofazimine. The WHO actually provides free treatment for this condition.
My guess is that the early Jews never knew that isolation of a victim truly spare others the condition.
They attributed spirituality to their actions.

It may well be that the Jews referred to any skin lesion as leprosy as evidenced in the Bible, and may not be the actual leprosy as we know it today. It is also good to know that the condition is not as rampant as of old; but know it that leper colonies still exist in some parts of India, China and in Africa.