Does Leprosy Actually Make Your Fingers and Toes Drop Off?

Explore the haunting history of leprosy in the Middle Ages! From mysterious origins to the eerie rituals of banishment, discover the truth behind this misunderstood disease. Uncover shocking treatments, a heroic tale, and the surprising impact leprosy has on modern science. Don't miss out on this captivating journey through one of humanity's most feared diseases!
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[@TodayIFoundOut]

This video brought to you in part by our Patrons over on Patreon. If you’d like to support our efforts here directly, and our continued efforts to improve our videos, as well as do more ultra in-depth long form videos that built in ads and even sponsors don’t always cover fully, check out our Patreon page and perks here: www.patreon.com/TodayIFoundOut And as ever, thanks for watching!

[@Maven0666]

We have armadillo infestations here in Central to Northern Florida. They carry leprosy/Hansens disease. There is an outbreak of it in Gainesville. Rabies is bad here too and fungus.

[@mikedergz6163]

This guy sucks I'm a leopard an I got nothing

[@alecity4877]

no single mention of Jacinto Convit?

[@dragonsdynamite6403]

Doesn’t RAND pay Simon enough?

[@nicholasharvey1232]

Diabetes basically causes the loss of extremities the same way leprosy does-- by numbing the victim to injuries that subsequently lead to infections. So be thankful whenever you feel pain-- it's your body trying to save you from having to have fingers or toes amputated.

[@shawnnewell4541]

That was my first thought as a diabetic.

[@elizabethclaiborne6461]

No, it doesn’t. Lepers don’t get amputation, the body reabsorbs the injured tissues.

[@ydid687]

Yeah people with chronic pain are just ungrateful, their bodies care about them too much

[@katarinatibai8396]

​@ydid687 💯💯💯😂😂😂💀💀☠️ You are right 🏆 I wish my body would care less than I would be more thankful 😅👍

[@dollinterrupted]

I saw a show about kids who didn’t have pain receptors and they had horrible lives. One of them had to have her tongue removed because she kept chewing on it without realizing. So sad.

[@clairenollet2389]

So, my dad was a Marine Corps pilot in the South Pacific during WWII. He would live in tents or Quonset huts on these tropical islands. His flight surgeon was a bit of a lush, but he greeted all the pilots returning from missions with a shot of booze. After a few weeks in the South Pacific, dad noticed his fingernails and toenails had stopped growing. Concerned, he went to the flight surgeon, who said, "Oh, yeah, that would be the rats." He explained that the rats would creep into dwellings and gnaw on people's fingernails and toenails very discreetly. They would only stop gnawing when they had nibbled too much, and the sleeping person would fling away the rat, all without waking up. The surgeon then added, "Doctors think that's how lepers lose their fingers and toes. Rats gnaw them off, and because the disease destroys the nerve endings, the poor buggers can't feel it. Here, son, you look a little green. Have a shot.". He then rummaged in his desk for some whiskey

[@Mattteus]

That is one hell of a story

[@clairenollet2389]

@@Mattteus Dad had some pretty amazing stories, and he was a natural born storyteller. He could hold any room spellbound. I miss him.

[@FirstNameLastName-ti4nc]

@@clairenollet2389he sounded like a great man

[@clairenollet2389]

@@FirstNameLastName-ti4nc The greatest man I ever knew.

[@sameshitdifferentsmell1305]

That’s awesome, you sound very proud of him as you should!

[@teresayeates3437]

In a leper colony in India they discovered that while the lepers slept, rodents would chew at their extremities. Naturally a person would move upon feeling such things, however due to loss of feeling in their extremities the lepers never moved and thus woke to missing pieces. Once they figured this out they assigned cats to each of the lepers stopping this.

[@marcbeebee6969]

😮 thanks, why would i sleep.... this week

[@Intifada1981]

I knew there was a good reason for letting my cats sleep in our bed somewhere 😅 I'll be using it from now on

[@duanesamuelson2256]

Cats don't typically go after rats..thats why terriers (like rat) were used for rodent control. I've seen feral cats walk by rats scrounging in the city (DC) and detour to stay out of their (the rats) personal space.

[@sagefi1]

Wow

[@thelayoffm965]

​@@duanesamuelson2256weak American cats raised by cat ladies

[@babtunji]

I am not a pilgrim or traveller, but will watch regardless

[@VivaSepulchre]

🦃 🏃 😆😄😆

[@mattiemathis9549]

The video I never knew I needed, but yes. I need it now.😂😂

[@Dankpuffin]

We are all travelers of space and time. All of us!

[@jscotthatcher380]

i use to be a traveller but i took an arrow in the knee.

[@zechariahzen.6364]

No. Leave. Right now.

[@saragrant9749]

One major correction to this dissertation. Medieval society was actually quite tolerant of people with diseases like leprosy, they were not ostracized as mentioned initially here. It was later, in the 1800’s where mass transportation was a major practice that people with diseases like this were ostracized and isolated. The church in medieval times promoted a fatalistic but actually quite positive attitude towards diseases like leprosy, feeling that the people were suffering here on earth and therefore would have a more direct path to heaven. You also don’t die directly from leprosy, but from conditions that can come about as a result of the immune system being compromised- issues like kidney disease, heart disease, etc being the actual cause of death. A great video all in all.

[@magiv4205]

Thank you so much for mentioning this! There are so many stereotypes around the middle ages that actually originated in the 1800s. It's a goddamn epidemic of misinformation that is completely normalized, and it hurts my heart as a history lover.

[@pioneercynthia1]

Saint Francis of Assisi (d. 1226) was renowned for hugging and kissing a man with leprosy, *because everyone else reviled him* so I'm not sure about that tolerance bit.

[@saragrant9749]

@@pioneercynthia1 in Medieval Europe they have found ample evidence that lepers were treated with no ill will and were an accepted part of the community. Remember, the “story” you’re referring to has never been corroborated by any actual archaeological evidence, and is just that- a STORY. Archaeologists have discovered many medieval graveyards- inside the remains of old church parishes- that included skeletons with the hallmarks of leprosy, and they are right in amongst the rest of those buried in the churchyard. It wasn’t until much later that lepers started to be ostracized- around the same time mass transportation of criminals and “undesirables.” This information actually comes from scientists and archaeologists- people with extensive knowledge of medieval history instead of unproven legends.

[@rachelmoney4730]

He made that clear in the video. Though that’s not tolerant. They were still ostracized. And not allowed to live normally.

[@philhawley1219]

I'm sure I've got that too. Can anyone lend me a bell?

[@melicia.]

Molokai still has residents from the former colony whose care is overseen by the Dept of Health. If you want to bring children while visiting them, you need special permission, not for disease reasons, but due to the trauma of having their children taken away from them at birth.

[@margodphd]

That's... that's one of the saddest things I've read for weeks. If I recall well, Ask a Mortician done a wonderful video on "leper colonies" around Hawai'i that was well worth watching.

[@SoundShinobiYuki]

@@margodphdYep, Molokai was the one she went to.

[@lisabaltzer4190]

I went there with my late husband about 25 years ago.

[@1D991]

I suffer from a severe case of erythodermic psoriasis that covers my entire body and even affects nails, hair, teeth, and internal organs (not properly treated it can lead to death from heart or other organ failure, and trying to get mine treated has been an annoying af journey as a smalltown Canadian); I'm certain I would've been seen as a leper

[@maryperrot1209]

I wondered about psoriasis as well. Think you are so ,unfortunately correct

[@jellyfishattack]

I live in rural Canada. I understand how difficult it can be. I wish you do feel better soon.

[@_catboy_]

i wish you the best, i hope you find the best treatment and live as comfortably as possible

[@bellasprink2893]

I have discoid lupus which covered my body with sores and plaques. My hair fell out etc… I was in Dapsone for years. I think I would have be considered a leper.

[@davidhealdjr.513]

I can see how this could be the origin of Zombie folklore. They're legally dead, yet still alive. Parts of their body are missing, they probably shamble about rather than having a normal gate. They really would be Zombies

[@ashkebora7262]

There are a few worse diseases that make for "zombies". Rabies being a violent example where they'll lose their mind. There are a few other diseases that slowly destroy someones' mind and could easily leave them shambling to an early grave while appearing not unlike a zombie. Especially in medieval times where medical care of _any_ sort wasn't likely to leave you with just a clean scar...

[@gypsydildopunks7083]

I have eczema. It didn't show up till my mid 20s. It is annoying, very itchy until you get it under control. Then it pops up every seasonal change. I'll take that any day over leprosy. Thanks for the video

[@lewiitoons4227]

Literally the exact same nd sometimes makes me a lil self conscious especially when it comes out of nowhere at the start of summer just when ye wear less clothes but then I saw this video and suddenly I don’t really care hahaha that shits terrifying

[@theofficialken1755]

Its been mostly closed since Covid due to remaining survivors still living there eith compromised immune systems, but St. Damien's church on Molokai is an amazing visit.

[@doesthisunithave1soul46]

Thank you for this. My maternal grandfather was a physician, and moved his family to Carville in the 1950-60's(?) to study leprosy. I didn't know enough to ask more about it until it was too late. Did find out that he wrote a chapter for the Merrik manual on leprosy (it has been since updated by someone else-but that is the way medicin is - always learning)

[@MrsJHarrington]

Thank you Simon for bringing more about this illness to light. Your videos on all your channels are always very respectfully done, well researched, and interesting to watch. 😊

[@Zelmel]

My assumption is that in the middle ages (and earlier) it wasn't actually leprosy in most cases, but was instead any number of more common things that were also less deadly but possibly more transmissible. Various skin diseases could easily fit early signs and be quarantined as a way of trying to block the spread of a "sudden" deadly disease.

[@saragrant9749]

You are correct. Archaeologists have discovered that many medieval people died not from leprosy but quite often from syphilis. Leprosy was of course around too, but syphilis and tuberculosis also affected the bones and skin of people.

[@violet7773]

Though if people with other disorders or diseases were quarantined with people who had leprosy, it's possible that they would also contract leprosy themselves.

[@westzed23]

And as Simon stated, that during the early centuries of leprosy it did spread quicker than it does now.

[@SleepyLeeeee]

I called my outside cat Max in for dinner one time and he made his way to the door with a friend. An armadillo. It was like he was asking if his friend could come in for dinner. 😂 I politely told him his friend had to go home.

[@kendra_t]

I once watched my barn cat eating from the same bowl as the possum that lived under the porch.

[@wolfrickthedesigner4748]

You can only catch leprosy from an armadillo when cooking and eating the liver 👍 You could have had a house guest 😂

[@SleepyLeeeee]

@@kendra_t Possum scare me lol. If they get angry, they have this scary hiss and their faces scrunch up *shudder*

[@jamesreynolds1275]

Possums don’t carry any diseases. They make great pets.

[@SleepyLeeeee]

I've known a few people to have them as pets who say the same thing. I just can't get past how angry they get ...and they do have some super sharp teeth and nails​@@jamesreynolds1275

[@arsenicjones9125]

The rapid spread in the Middle Ages is easily explained in a world where now 95% are immune or near immune… the ones who weren’t immune died w/o passing on their genes in the Middle Ages leaving a more naturally immune population behind to continue on to us today. As you mentioned their weakened immune system lead to them dying off in the Black Death. Further generally poorer sanitation standards of the Middle Ages and the increased close quarters contact they regularly faced explain a lot of disease transmission. Especially when you can be outwardly asymptomatic for an extended period moving thru the community spreading the disease long before you’re noticed for your skin lesions.

[@aethergasm]

Thanks for the information on this. My first encounter with leprosy in person was when I was 11-years-old in the 90s and the talk "...why your uncle doesn't have a nose." He was one of those people who was like "Nah, I don't need a doctor. It'll go away. I feel fine." (poverty wasn't a factor or doctor fears). He'd tell his story over and over like it was some weird flex while laughing like: "...turns out it was leprosy! Isn't that funny?!" Eventually I saw the more serious side of it in actual poverty which was a lot more emotionally devastating to experience. I got in trouble by my mom for giving money to someone with the disease.

[@meghanemery77]

i just keep getting videos recommended to me with the same dude and i'm not gonna stop clicking on them so idk why i'm even commenting but holy shit finding out he's on actually like 15 channels is nuts

[@jonathanpatze87]

Their lives decay before their eyes / There is no hope of cure Among their own kind they live / A life that's so obscure First an arm and then a leg / Deterioration grows Rotting while they breathe / Death comes slow Leprosy by Death, admittedly not always factual accurate but still a killer track and album. For an analysis of the track I dug a bit into the disease itself, that's when I first read about Father Damien, truly a saint.

[@Epidian]

Leprosy research has been hampered by a lack of non human research models. Apparently the only other animals to get it are Armadillos.

[@lakrasia]

10:25. Father Damien was "beautified" - LOL

[@subplantant]

I just heard that - ouch

[@philhawley1219]

@@subplantant I often notice mispronunciation with this narrator. If he didn't gabble like a cocaine user we may learn a little more.

[@subplantant]

@@philhawley1219 I can't categorize this as "mispronunciation". He just doesn't know what the word is.

[@PurpleAmharicCoffee]

Yep, beatified. Perhaps the writer isn’t as knowledgeable about the Catholic church, made a typo, or Simon misread it. Considering how many channels he narrates for, these slip-ups easily happen.

[@rodlander5868]

Just a quick note: beatified is not pronounced beautified {bu te fide}, but rather as "be atuh fide".

[@johannahoneyman697]

I was just coming here to say the same thing. The pope ‘beautifying’ someone gave me a good laugh 😂

[@Intifada1981]

I thought it was beet-eh-fyed like the church was beating them up or something 😮

[@weebunny]

​@johannahoneyman697 oh, I just had a good laugh imagining the Pope working as a hairdresser in a beauty salon! It would definitely cut down on the gossip in the beauty shop if your stylist had a sacred duty never to reveal whatever sins you had confessed to him 😁

[@thebobbalo1]

​@@Intifada1981 No one expects the Spanish Inquistion!!

[@carryoncarrion4525]

Explain what it actually means or???? Go away? Some people read these responses looking for clarification not people patting themselves on the back hard enough to break their arms.

[@curtislindsey1736]

I just read The Covenant of Water, this video should be required viewing after finishing it. It really puts everything in context for that book!

[@dankauffman8568]

Sometime around mid 1984 a place called (I think) Diego Suarez , on the Northern tip of Madagascar was struck by a hurricane . The USS Hector (AR 7) ported for relief operations . I was one of several volunteers to work in the leper colony . No one spoke the local language . The most severely affected were kept in what little shelter they had . There were apparently uninfected children there . Anyhow spent two days working there . Thank you for the video !

[@Epidian]

I suppose you spoke to them on French then.

[@dankauffman8568]

@@Epidian Now that you mentioned it , I think the local language was French . There were three missionaries that seemed to be in charge . One Priest and two Nuns . They only spoke Italian . Thank you .

[@Epidian]

@@dankauffman8568 The local lingo is Malagasy a weird Austronesian language with even weirder spellings. The nearest language to it is spoken in Borneo. Most Malagasy can speak French to some degree though. The closet you might have had on a US ship would have been Hawaiian but even then I doubt if it would have been mutually intelligible.

[@abqmalenurse]

I actually learned a bit about leprosy from a fantasy book series, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever. The author, Stephen R Donaldson, grew up with a father who was a doctor for a leper colony. The main character has leprosy and lost half of his hand because of it. The character continually checks his hands and feet for injuries and infections because of loss of sensation. It's a really good series, with the first installment named best science fiction novel of the year in 1977, if I remember correctly. It may have been best series at a later date.

[@richardaubrecht2822]

I've heard that name before somewhere... I should find it, thanks for suggestion.

[@evanhermiston7588]

fantastic books. the white gold wielder.

[@midnite_rambler]

Loved that series. Very under-rated.

[@billmullins6833]

I have the 6 books of the first 2 chronicles. Loved them.

[@LaurieAnnCurry]

Love the white gold wielder

[@user-ih7gc7dt9l]

Excellent video! Thankyou 🎉

[@JPriz416]

Great video about a terrible condition. thank god there were angels who risked their lives to help the inflicted.

[@patriciatoomingtheplantpar2558]

Wow, that was incredibly interesting... 👍🏻 THANKS👍🏻

[@wulfrir8607]

Thank you for posting! My shift is less boring now.

[@olwynskye417]

And my 💩... Really shouldn't be using phone on the throne.

[@Nefville]

Get to work!

[@wulfrir8607]

@@Nefville I'll be there again tomorrow 😪

[@Blackmark52]

The revelation at the end of a video about leprosy is a ray of sunshine.

[@tiggercampbell6198]

I love you cover awesome topics I never ever thought about but are interesting ..surreal

[@ChineseZodiacKiller]

Fascinating video. You forgot one important piece of crucial information: Leprosy is the classic 2nd album by the pioneers of Death Metal , the Florida based band, 'Death'. Super important. 🤘

[@BlackHearthguard]

Beatification is pronounced Be at if ication, and is the first step on the way to sainthood in the Catholic church. Leprosy can be treated with antibiotics and as Fact Boi points out is one of the least transmissible of human diseases, so the continued ostracisation of lepers is tragic.

[@gingerlilyjena7078]

Was hoping you guys would mention Baldwin, King of Jerusalem, a pretty competent ruler and leper

[@daniellewillis2767]

I used to think Def Leppard was Deaf Leper..

[@Joy-TheLazyCatLady2]

When I was a child, I got psoriasis. I wore long sleeve shirts year round for many many years because other children and even adults can be so cruel. When a teacher first seen my psoriasis I was pulled from class and they made my mother take me to the hospital. My psoriasis was mild then and easy to hide but I have never forgotten how crazy things were that year. That was the 70s. Now, I understand why people freaked. Some people asked if I had leprosy. It made me a much more understanding person, though. I try to always be respectful of people and understanding.

[@scruffy-thejanitor]

🫂❤️😔

[@DancerCrier]

In college I volunteered twice a year in a US/Mexico border town called Agua Prieta. It’s just on the other side of the arizona border fence. I saw people with leprosy, their noses and fingers missing. Kids playing soccer with balls made of plastic bags and tape. Whole families living in one room dirt floor homes with no electricity or running water. This is just a couple miles from the us. I was blown away…

[@verdatum]

I think the whole canonization thing is weird, but, if anyone deserves to be a "saint", it's that guy. So....good!

[@batya7]

Thank you for making the distinction between tza'aras in the Bible and modern leprosy (Hansen's disease). As a spiritual affliction, it required a priest to identify it. Also, it was possible for a house or furnishings to acquire tza'aras. Definitely not microbe-borne.

[@claremarley9181]

I remember being at mass, when I was little, 1970's, and we had a missionary trying to raise funds for a colony somewhere in the world.

[@18Alpine]

Please do a video on Vitiligo.

[@larry-naylor]

Can I just point out that it was his time at a leper colony during his motorcycle trip that gave Che Guevara the fire he had for socialism. He was the first one at the colony to touch the lepers and even danced with them. I know he's a divisive figure but what can't ever be in doubt was his passion to improve the lot of the poor.

[@S85B50Engine]

He was also a raging homophobe and racist

[@louistart1173]

Helping the poor through government murder👌

[@ScotChef]

Yes he was poor then he gave himself money and power.

[@Epidian]

@@louistart1173 Helping Mafia and CIA collaborators through government murder, more like.

[@Epidian]

@@ScotChef He was actually from a wealthy family in Argentina and a qualified doctor but kept giving his money away. There's a scene in the film about his motorcycle trip when his companion was rather distraught at him giving away all their money to a migrating peasant family they met on the road.

[@forestxander]

I have scleroderma. My left leg, particularly, is discolored in large patches.

[@Artbooksandboro]

My dad and step mam visited a former leper colony in one of the Greek islands (sorry can't remember which one). He sent me some photos of the place and I did a bit of reading on leprosy and the treatment of the people infected with it throughout history which I found interesting but also sad.

[@donnadees1971]

Love your enunciations. Good English.

[@JohnVKaravitis]

6:25 leprosy and tuberculosis are both caused by a different species of mycobacterium. It's believed that the spread of TB, combined with the weakened immune system, led to fewer cases of leprosy. TB js a faster, more deadly, disease.

[@ZechsMerquise195]

Father Damian is still a revert figure in Belgium for his actions to this day.

[@strychen]

Imagine leprosy first appearing in today's world. "You're telling me I have to follow all these rules, carry a bell, and avoid contact with other people?! Screw that! Muh Freedoms!!"

[@MaaZeus]

While at the same time pumping his fist in the air, only to realise he no longer has a fist...

[@Ozziecatsmom]

@@MaaZeusI really shouldn’t have laughed but I did!😂😂

[@oneperson5760]

God bless Fr Damian. So many are quick to say bad things about priests, but 98 percent of priests are very good people, sacrificing themselves for the sake of others.

[@Jessifats]

Did anyone else get confused because the Scary Interesting music was playing in the background at the start? Had to double check what I was listening to!

[@kendra_t]

Great channel

[@YochevedDesigns]

Thank you for understanding that tzaros is not the same thing as leprosy! Kudos to your writers and researchers. Translating Hebrew to English is hard enough, and when you are talking about esoteric spiritual matters it gets even more confusing, and it's easy to get the translations wrong.

[@stephaniesmart]

Hansons disease (Leprosy) is also carried by the 9 banded armadillo. Approximately 200 cases of leprosy are contracted annually in this manner in the US every year.

[@alextheasparagus6675]

this video unlocked a forgotten memory from when i was 9 years old and visiting the leper colony in spinalonga, crete. haven't thought about it in 15 years at least

[@psychicsiril519]

I would love to see a biographics episode on Alice Ball!

[@rebeccadafydd7930]

Simon how many channels do you have?! Each time I think I’ve finally followed them all I find more 😂

[@lisaspikes4291]

Carville, the former leper colony in Louisiana, had quite a community, according to the leftover residents I took care of in Baton Rouge. They spoke about it fondly. A few of them had published books about their experiences. I thoroughly enjoyed my time working there. Except for a couple of residents, they were all very upbeat and good natured. Despite their missing parts. ❤️

[@raquellofstedt9713]

My grandmother´s sister was an obstretician in Valore in India back inte the 1920´2-1960´s. Sh was also involved in the treatment och people who had lost the use of their hands because of leprosy. She used to be sent back to do fund raising in the stats, and would laugh about the church ladies who would loudly praise her for her work, but pull their skirts away from her for fear they would be contaminated from touching her.

[@Yourname942]

turning regular cells into stem cells seems like it has the potential for a lot of health benefits (for treatments and such)

[@billmullins6833]

Author Stephen R Donaldson has written several novels with a protagonist, Thomas Covenant, who is a survivor of Hansen's. Good reads all.

[@rogerspacebucks450]

Berek Halfhand!

[@pr0xZen]

Double As in Norwegian and other Scandinavian languages is commonly a substitution of the letter Å, a vowel pronounced like the O in English _horn._ This is pretty much universal where a name _begins_ with _Aa,_ although there is some minor variance otherwise.

[@johnhenrytown5045]

So in 2009 I went to a National Guard ran Boot Camp at Carville and they still had a few people with leprosy there

[@DennisUrMenace]

Father Damion-what a hero!

[@DomingoDeSantaClara]

It wouldn't be my fingers or toes I'd be worrying about dropping off.

[@libbychang413]

"leprosy" back then usu meant syphilis...but it culd mean any condition that causes skin lesions...

[@qwertyuiopgarth]

There is a park named after Alice Ball a few blocks south of me.

[@mobiledaw1436]

This will probably be included towards the end. Leprosy has recently been diagnosed in Florida USA.

[@MsEsquire83]

It's never really gone away, just like various plagues. I believe the only disease almost eradicated is smallpox.

[@gingercat777]

Well that's no surprise

[@karinrandall855]

As a native Floridian I don't doubt it.

[@harryparsons2750]

There is a cure for it before you start the fear mongering up to Covid levels.

[@mobiledaw1436]

@@karinrandall855 the bad news is the 1st infection was a landscape gardener in central Florida who hasn’t traveled outside his local community for years and it’s believed he contracted it from the soil. There has been over 200 infections from 2022/23. The good news is it’s treatable and it’s far less dangerous than Covid.

[@stephengibb1020]

As a child we had something in Primary School's in Scotland (in the 1970') called SRA - its an initialism for something a can't recall. Anyway, the priest in the lepor colony was one of the stories in the SRA library. Strange how some 45 years later and this is the first time since then that I have heard the story again, or that I remember the story at all!

[@ismarwinkelman5648]

Great way to end my weekend!

[@honeynfred]

Ironic that something so bad may be the key to something so good.

[@gordonwallin2368]

Cheers from the Pacific West Coast of Canada.

[@F_L_U_X]

Pretty harsh punishment for chickenpox.

[@MsEsquire83]

Hansen's Disease and.Chickenpox are very different diseases

[@zackcollette9406]

you should do a vid on lyme disease

[@matthewwarner9039]

I live down the road from the old camp in louisiana the facility is being used for a national gyard ryn juivinle rehabilitation program. The area is also haunted, i stayed at the job Corp facility next door.

[@lisaspikes4291]

I actually worked in a leprosy home in Baton Rouge. The people that lived there were leftover from the Carville leper colony in Louisiana, which was closed many years ago. Oddly enough, only about 5% of the human population can actually get leprosy. And in the whole history of the Carville Leper colony, only one person who worked there ever contracted the disease, and he was an electrician that had no contact with the residents.

[@kai_plays_khomus]

Leprosy in the tora/old testament refers to all skin deseases, to all pathological deviations from the normal conditions because "ritual purity" means exactly that - you are either _pure_ or _unpure,_ theres nothing in between, and if you have a skin condition you are the latter and therefore a leper. The rules are captivatingly clear at times in scripture - appearently there are some people for whom this is a positive.

[@kotori40]

Thanks for bringing up Alice Ball!!!!

[@ImaNerdANDaGeek]

I had heard of Alice Paul before as a woman's sufferagist when I took a women's history class, they never mentioned she had any black heritage.

[@SatansSimgma]

You just made D and D night better.

[@Squ4zzle]

2 leppers got in a fight, one threw a punch and the other one caught it.

[@shawnaland]

2:19 Lady’s wearing gloves from Walmart

[@daleshelden8394]

Yes it is still around armadillos sometimes carry it.

[@MibaCallabus]

I've had eczema my whole life and I had bad flare ups on my hands as a child, peeling dry skin flanps, cracks so deep they would bleed etc. A kid at Sunday school saw the blood on my hand after I'd picked at my finger once (I usually hid my fingers or kept bandaids on them). Kid lost their shit and freaked, loudly telling everyone I had leprosy and ran to tell my teachers. It was really not fun :/ none of the kids wanted to touch anything I touched or sit next to me after that.

[@gyllkrans]

That took an unexpected turn at the very last minute. Also, no mention of Baldwin IV or the Order of St. Lazarus?

[@amandatyler4324]

11:25 that is literally the WORST gift you can possibly give a person who has just gone blind….

[@kyledowney8551]

very late reply, but actually it's a very sweet and intimate gift. Blind people can't see your face, but they can touch it and feel it to get a better idea how you may look. That was the intent of the mask.

[@vivianhernandez4270]

Very interesting. Please could you talk more slowly.

[@gavkavOnUtube]

@10:27 He was beautified? What? They gave him a makeover?😂 I think you mean 'beatified', Simon.👍

[@kathybrem880]

It’s a step in sainthood

[@gavkavOnUtube]

@kathybrem880 being beatified is a step in sainthood, but Simon said 'beautified' which is a different thing entirely. 😀

[@ferretyluv]

Medieval Europe didn’t have a caste system. It was feudalism.

[@melissapinol7279]

I learned this years ago. To the tune of "Yesterday": Leprosy - all my parts are falling off of me I'm not half the man I used to be Since I contacted Leprosy!"

[@kevinmcqueenie7420]

"Armadillos - smooth on the inside, crunchy on the outside!" and if anyone here knows where that quote came from (without checking), I'll be impressed, and know you are a middle-aged person who was born in the UK!

[@mustwereallydothis]

My guess as to why leprocy spread so much more rapidly during the middle ages than it does today would be simple attrition. The percentage of susceptible individuals in the general population would likely have been much higher at that time. Those susceptible individuals could have been infected long before the strict quarantines were inacted. Most of them may have been young children when infected. By the time they reached maturity, their ability to procreate was probably restricted, if not eliminated. Therefore, those with natural immunity survived to pass on their genes, and those without it passed away without descendants.

[@robinbarrett5301]

Very interesting

[@eddie8900]

Leprosy, I'm not half the man I used to be, Little bits keep falling off of me, Since I contracted leprosy

[@catherine_404]

Same with ergotism: the St. Anthony's fire constricts blood vessels, and the extremities starve, blacken and fall off.

[@pinkace]

Oh god poor people :( this is a horrible way to die!

[@cherylhaass6609]

Fascinating. A dread disease of the ancient world, leprosy is now discovered to have potential benefits for modern medicine. So, who will grab the patent rights to those benefits and be able to reap vast fortunes, and who will be the beneficiaries?

[@Buneka_KY]

Oh my, that made me giggle. He was BEATIFIED. Not beautified! :D (I now have disturbing visions of him with lippy and false eyelashes on!)

[@capt.bart.roberts4975]

Wasn't one of the Kings of Jerusalem a leper? The last one I believe.

[@Miltendo]

Dang the cooking history guy has come a long way 🎉

[@ede2225]

Why do you have soooo many channels?

[@kristenjensen2589]

Just a note: it's pronounced "bee-at-ified", not beautified. Easy slip; the words are very close, and one far more common than the other...soldier on!