The history of Leprosy dates back all the way to 1550 B.C. on an Ancient Egyptian papyrus document. The ancient civilizations of India, Greece and Rome, also held accounts describing a disease similar to Leprosy. However, it wasn’t until 1873 that the disease was officially discovered by Doctor Gerhard Henrik Armauer Hansen. Doctor Hansen identified the germ that caused Leprosy under a microscope; proving the theories of hereditary transmission to be false.
Leprosy is caused by bacteria called Mycobacterium leprae. Because of the bacteria’s extremely slow growth, the exact process of transmission is still unknown. Currently, scientists think the bacteria is spread through droplets from an infected person's cough or sneeze. To acquire the disease,