01438nas a2200205   4500000000100000008004100001653001200042653001900054653001100073653002300084100001700107700001000124700001800134700001100152245006400163300000900227490000700236520097500243022001401218       2016                            d10aleprosy10aSocial aspects10aStigma10aHistory of leprosy1 aGrzybowski A1 aSak J1 aPawlikowski J1 aNita M00aLeprosy: Social implications from antiquity to the present.  a8-100 v343 a<p>One of the most important dermatologic diseases from the sociologic viewpoint has been leprosy. Those with leprosy were isolated, excluded from society, and stigmatized. Such a stigma indicates the strong feeling that a leprosy patient is shameful and should not be accepted by society. During the first millennium, leprosy was rapidly inscribed in the system of religious prohibitions-the disease was a punishment by God for wrongdoing, and the disease was associated with the lower spheres of the society. Social perception of leprosy gradually changed during the time of Crusades. The care for lepers became a Christian obligation, and celebrating Holy Masses as for the dead was forsaken. The sick were forced to stay at leprosaria, particularly from the 14th through the 19th centuries when fear of leprosy was at a high point. Admission to a leprosarium was mandatory not only for patients with leprosy but also even those suspected of having the disease.</p>
  a1879-1131