"Her family sent her away when she was only 12 years old after she was diagnosed with what is likely the world's most misunderstood and stigmatized disease. They feared her presence in the home would tarnish the family's reputation and her siblings would never be married. Alamelu, who is now 75, never saw her family again. Like most residents of Kalvari Nagar, this woman was cured of leprosy years ago."
"If untreated, these can lead to dangerous infections. Nurses and helpers bathe the patients' feet and remove dead tissue around the wounds to help them heal. They massage the patients' legs with oil to prevent future lesions and bandage the feet of those with the worst ulcers some as big as a fist. The patients are given plastic bags with enough gauze, bandages and ointment to care for their wounds between the doctor's visits, although not everyone follows the advice."
Alamelu, a gray-haired woman with a gap-tooth smile, has lived in the Kalvari Nagar leprosy colony in India for 22 years and in another colony before that. Her family sent her away at age 12 after she was diagnosed, fearing damage to the family's reputation and marriage prospects for siblings; she never saw them again. Most residents were cured years ago but endure disabling long-term effects such as crippled hands, blindness, amputations and chronic foot lesions that risk infection. Nurses and helpers clean and debride wounds, massage with oil, bandage severe ulcers and supply gauze, bandages and ointment between doctor visits. About 750 leprosy colonies still exist in India as relics of past exile driven by mistaken fears.
Read at www.npr.org
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