Leprosy stigma

Leprosy stigma is a kind of social stigma, a strong feeling that a leprosy patient is shameful and is not accepted normally in society. It is also called leprosy-related stigma, leprostigma, and stigma of leprosy. From ancient times the disease was feared because of the disfigurement it caused and lack of understanding about how it was transmitted; it was long believed to be inherited and was associated with ideas of "unclean blood". The stigma was renewed in the late nineteenth century as Europeans encountered cultures where leprosy was or became more widespread than in their own, or where it was associated with poverty and developing economies. An example was in Hawaiʻi, where European Americans, particularly sugar planters, supported legislation to quarantine persons with leprosy in the belief that this would prevent its transmission.

United States sociologist Erving Goffman defined "stigma" as an attribute that is deeply discrediting; a stigmatized individual is one who is not accepted and not accorded the respect and regard of his peers, who is disqualified from full social acceptance. It is associated with 1) physical deformities; 2) blemishes of character, such as are associated with alcoholism and drug addition; or 3) race, nation, social class, sexuality and religion that are thought of as second-class by another group.

In a paper entitled "Leprosy stigma", William Jopling cited the definition of stigma by Erving Goffman. He wrote that there are three types of stigmatized individuals associated with the one disease of leprosy: 1) Physical deformities, such as facial plaques, facial palsy, claw hand deformity or footdrop; 2) blemished character, as in persons confined to a leprosarium; and 3) tribal stigma, or people belonging to a poor social class.

Leprosy stigma has been associated with the disease for most of its history. In Western Europe it reached its peak in the Middle Ages, at a time when the Church considered leprosy as "unclean." Many "lazar houses" were built. Patients had to carry bells to signal their presence but also to attract charitable gifts.

The finding in 1873 by Hansen that leprosy was infectious and transmitted by a bacterium worsened leprosy stigma. It was long associated with sexually transmitted diseases and during the nineteenth century was thought to be a stage of syphilis.

Numerous societies in the Middle Ages and nineteenth and twentieth centuries required separation of persons with leprosy from the general population.

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