Armauer Hansen: Discoverer of Leprosy Bacillus

[Music] Century an ancient disease is spreading through the north [Music] countries hundreds of people mostly fishermen and farmers are struck with many of them spend their entire lives in the St jorgan Hospital and [Music] nerves for thousands of years the disease has been a mystery centuries ago it may have come from the Orient through the merchantmen of Greece then on to all of Europe and Africa Viking Travelers probably brought the disease to Norway after raids on the British Islands now here in Bergen the medical world focuses its attention on halting the spread of [Music] leprosy the year is 18 60 a young doctor Gart Henrik arow Hansen has just been assigned to the leprosy hospital as an assistant physician before long he is responsible for the care of some of the most seriously ill but of what use is this care if there is no cure patients live their lives in pain gradually more deformed and scarred Beyond human endurance no medication stops the disease most physicians at this time are convinced that leprosy is hereditary passed from parent to child after all isn't it often found in more than one member of the [Music] family could leprosy have some other cause one more vulnerable to attack by medicine perhaps improper food or climate or failures of cleanliness or perhaps the disease passes by contact from one victim to [Music] another Hansen begins to search in the laboratory of the hospital and in the lives of the sufferers he visits their homes in the fiords and valleys throughout Norway he always asks the same questions have the parents been ill when did the first signs of the disease appear what had the victim been doing before the disease struck back to the hospital for more research but not with much enthusiasm from his fellow workers Dr Danielson the chief physician was an authority and he was convinced that leprosy was inherited and now this young doctor wastes his time searching for some other cause all Hansen's work convinces him that leprosy is not inherited children fall to the disease with no history of leprosy in the families still Danielson has spent most of his life observing the disease and so the controversy grow but this is a time of revolution in medicine until now only alterations in the blood were thought to cause disease but in Germany all alterations are also observed in the body cells of the Sick Germs have been found to be causes of some disease could the cause of leprosy be found in the tissues of the [Music] victims Hansen studies report from all over the world he reads about the work of Hena pastur he continues to visit patients wherever they live [Music] [Music] check the conditions of the patients study their living conditions look for patterns in the lives of the diseased fishermen and Farmers the most often struck are poor their living conditions often unfit for humans perhaps there's a link between these living conditions and the disease Hansen urges the Improvement of clus in Norway all information is carefully recorded Hansen grows more convinced that leprosy is a contagious disease somewhere there must be a germ a disease source that can pass from one person to another but so far he has found nothing years of study pass it is now February 23rd 1873 that same day a patient who enters the hospital has infections on face and ears Amar Hansen removes part of the diseased ear and is is off to the lab for more study [Music] [Applause] [Music] in the middle of the night Hansen takes the news to his Superior he has added this distilled water to the infected cells the cells have burst pouring out hundreds of small rod-shaped pieces visible under the microscope these small rods basili must be the cause of leprosy mer this is star soon the whole world accepts the discovery of the leprosy basilis the disease is given a new name Hansen's Disease and new laws proposed by Hansen result in improvements in cleanliness and in isolation of the sick before the century is over Hansen's Disease will be virtually unknown in the Scandinavian countries the discovery of the leprosy basilis is a milestone in man's struggle to find remedies for ancient scourges [Music]