Today, Yuliati Rahman Mangngadu (31) is deputy head of an organization that works with leprosy in her home country. An organization that saved her life. This summer she stood on the lectern in the Grieghallen in Bergen on the occasion of a medical jubilee. This year marks 150 years since the Bergen physician Gerhard Armauer Hansen discovered the leprosy bacillus – a discovery that is considered one of the most important in medical history. The doctor Gerhard Armauer Hansen from Bergen discovered the leprosy bacillus 150 years ago. Leprosy ravaged Norway in the 19th century. While the disease is virtually eradicated in Western countries, the WHO estimates that there are still around 250,000 people infected, most of them in developing countries. – Why me, why me? news meets Yuliati at the Lepramuséet, St. Jørgens Hospital. This was one of the hospitals where Gerhard Armauer Hansen worked. In 2011, as a 19-year-old student, she received the shocking diagnosis – she was infected with leprosy. Yuliati is happy and proud to be able to visit the hometown of the world-renowned doctor who discovered the leprosy bacillus. Photo: Stian Sørum Røkenes / news She went through several treatments with medicine, but the worst was the psychological: – It made me scared and sad. I began to isolate myself and was very ashamed and afraid that others would discover my illness – and I was very angry. I asked: Why me, why me? – I felt like this for over a year, and I had decided to take my life. I couldn’t accept that I had leprosy, says Yuliati. Leprosy is also called leprosy and Hansen’s disease. Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by infection with the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae. The bacterium was first discovered in the skin of leprosy patients by the Bergen doctor Gerhard Armauer Hansen in 1873. The disease is contagious, and if left untreated, it can lead to chronic skin ulcers and skin growths, and devastating damage to the nerves in the arms and legs. With early diagnosis and the right treatment, the condition can be cured. The incidence of leprosy has decreased significantly in recent decades. But the disease is still widespread in several parts of the world, especially in South-East Asia and India (90 per cent) Source: nhi.no High stigma Then she came into contact with the organization PerMaTa. Here she met other leprosy patients and got help. – Little by little I learned to accept the realities and free myself. Here, Yuliati stands outside St. Jørgen’s hospital in Bergen, where leprosy plagued the 19th century. Photo: Stian Sørum Røkenes / news Shame and prejudice were the reasons why Yuliati tried to hide the illness. – In my hometown, leprosy has a high stigma. It scared me. People with leprosy are discriminated against in Indonesia. You won’t get a job or a school place, and you will be isolated. Now she works to spread information about the disease. – I’m telling you that you don’t need to be afraid of people who are infected with leprosy. Hansen’s disease is not easily transmitted, and once you have been given medicine, you are not contagious. Thought the disease spread because people ate too much fish In the 19th century, Norway stood out from the rest of Europe because there were so many people with leprosy. But also in Norway there were large geographical differences in where the disease was widespread. – In Southern and Eastern Norway it was completely unknown, but along the coast south of Bergen all the way up to Finnmak, people were infected. Most of all it was in the strilelandet, Nordfjord and those areas, says history professor Morten Hammerborg. History professor Morten Hammerborg says that it is not known why so many people in Western Norway got the disease. Photo: Camilla Salas-Gulliksen / news No one knows why so many people in Western Norway got the disease, and there are still mysteries surrounding the spread of leprosy. – In the 18th century, people thought it was because you ate too much fish. For a long time it was thought that it was hereditary, before Armauer Hansen proved that it was a bacterium. Picture of Norwegian lepers at the end of the 19th century. Photo: The National Library Because leprosy spread mainly in Western Norway, Bergen had the opportunity to become a research centre. – At that time, everything was built up from the capital, and very few state kroner went to Bergen. It had enormous significance for Bergen as a city for research and university, says Hammerborg. The map shows the spread of leprosy in Norway before and after it was discovered that the disease was a bacterium. Photo: Bergen City Museum Can get well Since Armauer Hansen discovered the bacillus 150 years ago, research into leprosy has come a long way. – One can be cured of the disease, says professor of preventive medicine, Lorentz Irgens. He adds that it is a challenge to have an efficient healthcare system that follows up patients where people are ill. – The patients often live out in the bush, and then it is a challenge to get them medicine at the right time. Irgens explains that it is assumed that the patient is no longer contagious when the treatment has been implemented. Yuliati hopes for a future with less stigma and discrimination against people with leprosy. Photo: Stian Sørum Røkenes / news When Yuliati is asked what her hopes are for the future, she lights up and smiles. – I hope that people with leprosy will avoid permanent men. And avoid stigma and discrimination.
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Became leprosy as a 19-year-old – news Vestland
