"Leprosy" Topic

I'm reading an historical novel where one of the characters has leprosy.

Is there any theory as to why this disease became almost an epidemic in medieval Europe & why it has largely disappeared
from the continent?

found this on the web

sequencing revealed the leprosy genome has remained almost unchanged since medieval times, so the disease hasn't become any less potent. Its decline during the 16th century may have been a result of disease resistance within the human population, the researchers speculate. People who developed leprosy were often banished to leper colonies for the rest of their lives. As a result, the genes of people who were susceptible to the disease would have died out with them, while the genes of more immune people would have survived
(article states leprosy became pronounced during peak reproductive years)

I'd have to dig out my "Rats , lice, and history" book to find more in depth, but a painfully dry read :)

Here Ochoin, this should help.
link
link

Chris, dig by all means (sounds a juicy read to me).

Thanks, Bashy. It seems as leprosy, like smallpox, should be extinct globally.

Unless you wipe out armadillos in the U.S., and red squirrels in the UK., leprosy will hang around.

Smallpox has no animal or insect reservoir – that's why it was vulnerable.

It's also treatable with antibiotics which has more or less eliminated the disease in the developed world.

I'm afraid lepers begging in the street are not unknown in SE Asia, at least.

(From Blackadder 2)
QUEENIE:[My father, Henry VIII] used to laugh at these people with the funny faces and the bells.
MELCHETT: Ah, jesters ma'm.
QUEENIE: No, lepers…

Spare a shekel for an old ex-leper.