Hansen's Disease

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A disease that shows no signs or symptoms until many years have passed; and by the time a sign has surfaced, the damage has already been done. Hansen’s disease, or leprosy as some call it, is a contagious disease once known as incurable and a disease to be feared. But now there are studies that seek to find out where this disease came from, what animal it is naturally obtained; how it began to invade the human population, or how it is detected at its earliest stages. To truly know what Hansen’s disease is and how it infects the human race, scientists must first delve into its history and the nature of its bacterium, Mycobacterium leprae.
Hansen’s disease, or leprosy, is a contagious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae. The disease targets …show more content…
The disease originated in Eastern Africa or Near East and had spread through human migration. Leprosy was introduced into West Africa and the Americas by the Europeans and North Africans in the past five hundred years. In Brazil, colonizers who established the first colonies Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, and Recife, landed with the disease at the end of the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth centuries, and from there it invaded other states. Over the years, the amount of patients increased and was observed in provinces Bahia, Minas Gerais, Para, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro, and Sao Paulo, where agriculture was the most important economic activity. …show more content…
In eighteen seventy seven, the great drought in northeast Brazil caused one of the most massive human migrations in the country. In the Amazon region, the most important activity was rubber extraction and it demanded an increased number of manpower in which northeastern immigrants provided. During the Second War, more northeastern immigrants flocked into the region for work and were known as rubber soldiers. Comparable to the other states of the Brazilian Amazon Basin, rubber extraction in the State of Amazonas was profitable and very important in the Amazon River and its whitewater channels such as Jurua, Purus, and Madeira River. The highest number of patients in history lived on the banks of these rivers. Whereas, the communities living on the Negro river, a blackwater river, and its branches always had a smaller number of leprosy patients. Nonetheless, rubber extraction was never profitable nor important in the Negro river region. In other words, it’s a possibility that rubber soldiers and their families contributed to the introduction and development in the number of leprosy patients in the Amazon Basin.
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