HERB - Can anyone help?

[Knaus, Robert F.]

Mostly isolation, and in many cases some form of inadvertent starvation and
lack of proper protection from the elements.  8-)
Okay, the following information is all from memory since I don't have the
book in front of me.  In addition to the book "The Medieval Leper," some of
the information comes from some Indian and Muslim works (Mostly Baghdad
texts around 1000 - 1200) I have read.  Sorry it is kinda long.  I have
tried to give you the meat first and then add a few extra morsels of
interest later. 8-)

The short answer is - not really any real treatment.  Popping the sores and
bleeding were fairly popular in early stage, but later stage leprosy was
mostly "treated" by consigning the afflicted to a hospital which should have
been properly called a hospice.  Isolation does not seem to be responsible
for checking the spread of the disease (it is the least communicable of all
diseases classified as communicable) since the largest factor seems to be a
genetic predisposition.  In addition, some people with only a slight
susceptibility might contract leprosy and then be spontaneously cured, or
never progress beyond the early stages of the disease.  These were the ones
who fought diagnosis (and any subsequent "treatments") the hardest.

Treatment was often complicated due to the political / social ramifications
of leprosy above and beyond the medical issues. (The Medieval Leper goes a
bit into why leprosy had this special status, and focuses on the social
aspects quite a bit).
Before any "treatment" could be attempted they had to establish with
confidence that someone had the disease - which was a legal (as opposed to
medical) proceeding.  Usually this was done by a body of "knowledgeable men"
- presumably doctors or physicians, but often town elders or local
politicians.  This could frequently take several years since leprosy has an
inordinately long onset time (normally years instead of days or months) and
the symptoms are difficult to accurately diagnose until it reaches later
stages.
Leprosy in its early stages is fairly innocuous, mostly polyps on the
forehead.  Since these could be warts or moles, it was often hard to define
as leprosy - all the more so since most victims fought the diagnosis (since
it meant leaving their home and family and might have other legal
ramifications for their family).
Later (second stage leprosy) is most visibly with additional polyps (which
may ooze) and a thickening of the voice.  Sometimes no sores are visibly,
and the voice may be only slightly affected, or may be so severe as to make
communication nearly impossible.  In addition, nerve damage starts becoming
more severe at this stage.
Late (third stage, advance leprosy) is what we normally think of as
"classic" leprosy - withered limbs (due to injury resulting from lack of
sensation), acute disfiguration of the face (particularly the nose), oozing
sores and skin that gives the appearance of falling off, voice thickened to
the level of near impossible communication, blindness.
These late stage symptoms are fairly obvious, but may take 10 or more years
to develop.  The extremity damage is not necessarily due to the leprosy
directly (feet, hands) but as a by product of the nerve damage - injuries
are not noticed and fester.  In addition, leprosy does mark the bones and
cartilage which accelerates the process (and causes the problems with the
nose).
Treatment, when the lepers could be placed under care, was most similar to a
hospice.  There was no real treatment, although there were various quack
attempts (I use that term since all evidence seems to indicate that the
sellers of these treatments did not believe they worked themselves).  Some
of the more legitimate attempts at treatment were in keeping with other
standard medical practices - balancing of humours (from the Greek texts,
which were remarkably similar to the principles underlying Chinese
acupuncture and herbal treatments), and vapours (which were frequently tried
due to the smell of the sores).  In addition, puncturing the polyps / sores
was often tried in early stages (as with bubonic) but was only apparently
marginally successful.
Treatment was complicated by several factors - long onset time, resistance
to diagnosis, spontaneous remission (which did occasionally happen), and
familial inheritance.
According to "The Medieval Leper," of married couples where one contracted
the disease, fewer than 5% of the spouses developed leprosy.  The largest
factor seems to be a predisposition or familial susceptibility (which was
correctly identified in period since several texts talk about evidence at
trials being "and his mother was a leper, thus he may be as well," and
such).  In addition, very few of the clergy that assisted in the hospitals
actually developed leprosy. Since many of these were on deserted islands
except for the leper colony is probably too much to believe that they
actually simply avoided exposure.  They simply had a higher resistance.  In
addition, tuberculosis may have given some people additional resistance
(since the bacteria that cause the two are closely related).
Sorry to have rambled on so long, but hopefully some of this will be
interesting and / or useful.

-----Original Message-----
From: Mary Temple [mailto:noxcat at hotmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, April 26, 2000 10:18 AM
To: herbalist at ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: HERB - Can anyone help?


>From what I remeber from skimming through the book my husband bought two 
weeks ago(The Medieval Leper - I can get more information on it), there 
wasn't much they could do for leprosy. They hadn't figured out it was a 
bacteria, but they did know it tended to run in families.

It's actually a fascinating book for those interested in things medical - it

even has pictures (both drawings and photographs of people suffering from 
the disease and of the bones from the leper graveyards). The main body of 
evidence is from the Scandinavian countries. I asked my husband if this was 
because it was more prevalent there, but he said it seemed to be simply 
because that where the best extant documentation came from.

Lady Katerine Rowley
Bryn Gwlad, Ansteorra
mka
Mary K. Temple
Austin, Texas

>I have a son doing a report on medieviel medicine for school.  Does anyone
>know if there was a medievel treatment for leprosy besides isolation?  Or
>should I say along with isolation.
>
>Thanks in advance for your help.
>
>Aleena

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