Stigmas Placed on Diseases

Stigmas are attached to some diseases. There have been cases of leprosy since Biblical times, and the disease has always prompted an intense fear, especially among those who do not understand the disease and the risks. Neil talked about his own fear of catching leprosy, but he also talked about the fears other people expressed in various ways throughout the 100 years of Carville's existence. The fear caused others to treat the lepers as outcasts. They were shunned and put safely away where they would not be in the general population. Hence, the title of the book, In the Sanctuary of Outcasts, describes the treatment of those who suffered from the dreaded disease of leprosy.

Carville was chosen as the site for a leprosarium because it was remote enough that the lepers who made their home there could live separate from the people who...