A Lesson in Leprosy Trivia Quiz

Answer: Hansen's disease

A Norwegian doctor named Gerhard Hansen was the first to view the bacteria that caused leprosy under a microscope. He found that it was a rod shaped bacillus. Since then it has gone under the name Hansen's disease.

Answer: The Chinese

Nobody knows for sure how leprosy got to Hawaii, but the Chinese were suspected. Leprosy was nicknamed "Mai Pake", meaning the Chinese sickness. The missionaries and the traders were suspected of bringing measles to Hawaii. The traders brought venereal diseases.

In 1899 an outbreak of the bubonic plague ravaged Honolulu. This was brought by the rats from the ships. The Department of Health set a large portion of Honolulu on fire just to control it.

Answer: Leprosy is highly contagious

One of the biggest myths about leprosy was that it was highly contagious. This simply is not true. Transmission occurs from close and prolonged contact. Leprosy causes blindness because it attacks the cornea of the eye. This is because the bacteria thrives in a cooler temperature.

The bacteria also thrives in the nose, earlobes, and fingers. This results in the skin lesions and disfigurement. Leprosy also attacks the nerves. This is the reason for numbness.

Answer: Genetics

Genetics play a major role in the contractiion of leprosy. Approximately 5% of the population has a defect in their immune system making them unable to fight the bacteria. This runs higher in some cultures, such as the Hawaiians and the French. This may explain why the two major leprosy facilities in the U.S. are located in Hawaii and Louisiana. Unsanitary conditions were one of the many beliefs, but was never proven.

Some doctors in Hawaii believed that leprosy was a later stage of syphilis. This was also untrue. Leprosy was often referred to as a tropical disease. Climate was never proven to be a factor in the course of the disease.

Answer: Armadillo

Leprosy thrives in temperatures lower than 98.6. The core temperature of an armadillo is about 93 degrees. People can contract the disease from the armadillo. There were no reported cases in the cow, monkey, or elephant.

Answer: Tuberculosis

The pathogen that causes leprosy is called Mycobacterium leprae. The pathogen that causes tuberculosis is called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. They are very closely related. There is no relationship between AIDS and leprosy. AIDS is caused by a virus while leprosy is from a bacteria. Measles is also from a virus. Scurvy is from a lack of Vitamin C in the diet.

Answer: Isolation

Leprosy is a very ugly disease. It caused horror and panic in the non infected population. Up until the discovery of antibiotics there was no cure. The victims were sent away to leper colonies. Various folk remedies were tried but none were effective. One example was tea leaves.

The Chinese would rub certain tea leaves on the lesions. This was never proven to be effective. Surgery consisted of amputation. This was used as a palliative measure, not a cure. There is no documentation that camphor oil was ever used, but oil from the Chaulmoogra tree was used at one time.

It was injected under the skin. Many of the patients were cleared from the lesions. They soon found out that this cleared the lesions temporarily but did not cure the disease. The lesions just came back.

The oil was rare and the injections were very painful.

Answer: Molokai

It was on Molokai. On the north side of the island is a triangular shaped peninsula. This was surrounded by the sea. The sea in this area was very rough, making it difficult to land a boat. The other side was cut off from the rest of the island by a high cliff.

The only way to get off the peninsula was to risk the sea or climb. This made escape almost impossible. Even though the government said they wanted to isolate the lepers, they really imprisoned them. This was considered the perfect spot.

Answer: Belgium

Father Damien worked in the colony from 1873. He eventually became infected with leprosy himself, and died from the disease in 1889. He was canonized, declared a saint, by Pope Benedict XVI in 2009.

Answer: Promin

Promin was the first drug that gave hope to the victims of leprosy. It is part of the sulfonamide family. It made great progress in the treatment of the disease but had some setbacks, such as relapses and serious side effects. A small portion of the victims did not respond to the drug at all. Today a MDT, (multidrug therapy), is used.

It consists of dapsone, rifampicin, and sometimes clofazimine. Dapsone is another drug of the sulfonamide family. Rifampicin was found to be extremely effective in treating tuberculosis.

The tuberculosis pathogen and the leprosy pathogen are very closely related. Using multidrug therapy to treat these diseases offers many benefits. First of all it offers a stronger fight against the disease. Also it cuts down on the possibility that the bacteria may become resistant. Resistant strains of any bacteria become much harder to fight.

This cuts down on the possibility of relapse. Penicillin gets so much credit for being a wonder drug, but not this time. Tetracycline is used when the patient is allergic to penicillin. Ribavirin is an antiviral drug.

It does nothing for leprosy. I would like to add one other little tidbit of information. Another drug that has been used in the fight against leprosy is thalidomide. It has been known to help relieve some of the skin trauma in leprosy. Some of the older people may remember the thalidomide tragedy in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Thalidomide was first used to treat morning sickness in expecting mothers, but it turned out to be very teratogenic. That means causing birth defects. Now thalidomide is monitored very carefully by the government and a doctor needs a special permit just to use it.