User:Cawna89/History of leprosy

Symptoms
Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease That has been documented to affect the peripheral nerves, eyes, skin, nasal mucosa, and the upper respiratory tract.

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According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), some symptoms such as skin are : ======


 * Stiff, thick, and/or dry pieces of skin
 * Having lumps on the face or earlobes that are painless
 * Having ulcers on feet that are also painless
 * Discolored patches of skin that mainly are flat, that will be most likely numb and have a faded look surrounding them
 * Growths on the skin
 * Loss of eyebrows and/or eyelashes

When Leprosy damages the nerves, the symptoms are :

 * In large nerves mainly found around the knees, elbows, and on the sides of the neck
 * Experiencing muscle weakness or paralysis in the hands and feet
 * Experiencing blindness when facial nerves are affected
 * Developing numbness in affected areas of the skin

When the mucous membranes are affected, their symptoms can be :

 * Nosebleeds
 * A stuffy nose

Advanced symptoms are :

 * Paralysis and crippling of both the hands and feet
 * The shortening of both fingers and toes due to the body reabsorption
 * Chronic or ulcers fan at the bottom of the feet that are non-healing
 * Loss of eyebrows
 * Nose disfigurement
 * Blindness
 * Tender or painful nerves
 * Burning sensation on and in the skin
 * Redness and pain around the affected areas

History of Leprosy in the Americas
Colonial Period

Leprosy was not present in the Americas until the arrival of European colonizers brought new diseases that infected the native populations. This transmission was also present in Africa where European settlers enslaved the local population. In past case reports, it has been noted that by the 1750s, Leprosy was prevalent in New Orleans

WW2 Era
In the United States post World War Two Leprosy again entered the public eye. A major public event was a US Army Major Hans Hornbostel asking to stay with his wife, Gertrude who had been moved to a leper colony after her imprisonment in a Japanese POW Camp.