Leprosy is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae. This disease dates back to 600 BC, and even today it continues to be a cause of discrimination and social stigmatization.
Although leprosy can be cured, it causes stigma and discrimination, which is why the World Health Organization declared the last Sunday of January, World Day for the Fight Against Leprosy.
With the aim of raising awareness in society about this disease and reducing the stigma suffered by people who suffer from it.
The Hansen’s bacillusas this ancient disease is known, reproduces very slowly, its average incubation period and onset of signs and symptoms is approximately five years.
The initial symptoms are light or dark spots or nodules on the skin, which cause skin lesions and loss of sensation in the affected area.
Other symptoms include muscle weakness and tingling in the hands and feet. It can also cause progressive and permanent sequelae, including deformities and mutilations, reduced limb mobility, and even blindness.
story of a leper
Antonio Florián Hernández affectionately “Felipe”, he was 18 years old when he was diagnosed with leprosy.
Felipe was a seller of pork rinds, he fried them and sold them. One day, after finishing preparing his tray to go out to distribute his merchandise, he went to bathe while he was still warm, and it is that moment that he describes as “the day of my misfortune.”
When he was in the bathtub, he began to feel that his strength was diminishing and that he lost the mobility of his hands and feet. Reasons for this I stayed there, until someone entered the house and noticed the punch bowl that was on the table with all the pork rinds and then they wondered where she was.
When they found him, he was taken to the Toribio Bencosme Hospital in Moca. At that moment he thought that he had a seizure.
Florián Hernández, it was in this place where he began to feel strongly the symptoms of this disease that he was still unaware of.
Months later, at home, she noticed that some blisters had broken out on the top of her feet, for which her sister told her that she feels bad. To which she replied “You have to go fast for that, so they decided to take him to the hospital in Santiago.
At the Santiago Rodríguez General Provincial Hospital, he was sent to perform five biopsies, which revealed that his disease was called Leprosy.
“When I heard that I had leprosy I thought I was going to go crazy, the pain that this produces is terrible, and when you get close to something hot it is worse, you can’t imagine”
While I was in this condition, some nuns of Japanese nationality were the ones who helped me in the hospital and they were the ones who referred me to Leprocomio Nuestra Señora De La Mercedes.
Today Felipe has lived in this institution for more than 11 years, here based on care and attention they helped him overcome this disease.
Today, Antonio Florián is 51 years old and says he feels happy, content and grateful to God for having helped him overcome this disease.
