A DALES-BASED academic has written a comprehensive account of an infectious disease that affected thousands for centuries, and still does today, particularly in Brazil, India, and Indonesia.

For many years Wensleydale resident, Charlotte Roberts, Professor of Archaeology at Durham University and a former nurse, harboured a desire to encapsulate her research into leprosy and write a book on the subject.

Although she commenced the work some years ago, her personal circumstances and other life pressures prevented its speedy conclusion. Now following almost 40 years of research, and a decade of on-off writing, her work has finally hit the book shelves.

Drawing on her extensive research into the infection, Professor Roberts outlines its bacterial cause, how it spreads, and how it affects the body. This includes discussion about the other two mammals apart from humans that are affected by it (armadillos and red squirrels).

Considering its diagnosis and treatment, historically and in the present, she looks at the methods and tools that have been used by paleopathologists, like her, to identify signs of leprosy in skeletons. The global evidence for leprosy in skeletons is also described, along with the infection’s origin, evolution and history, including in Britain where the last case recorded was in 1798 on the Shetland Islands.

Contrary to the popular belief that people with leprosy were stigmatised, ostracised and isolated from society into leprosy hospitals, the author demonstrates that those affected were usually buried in the same cemeteries as the rest of their communities. Other myths exposed as incorrect by Professor Roberts include the assumptions that leprosy can’t be cured and is no longer a problem in the world now. Importantly, she advises against use of the word “leper” in everyday parlance to avoid perpetuating stigma today surrounding people with the infection and their resulting disabilities.

The book cover features a photograph of Spinalonga, north-east Crete, made famous by Victoria Hislop’s bestselling book The Island, a place where people were isolated with leprosy in the first half of the 20th Century.

It concludes by projecting the future of leprosy, arguing researchers need to study the disease through an ethically grounded evolutionary and social perspective.

Fifty per cent of the book’s royalties will be donated to LEPRA, a charity that aims to rehabilitate people affected by leprosy.