Leprosy museum Bergen

Leprosy Museum, Bergen - darkometer rating : 5 - A small museum in the city of Bergen , Norway , where the pioneer medical scientist Armauer Hansen studied the disease of leprosy (and discovered its cause) in a local hospital-cum-leper-colony. Today it's a highly unusual and quite unique tourist sight. > More background info > What there is to see > Location > Access and costs > Time required > Combinations with other dark destinations > Combinations with non-dark destinations > Photos More background info: Leprosy is a disease that carries with it an almost mythical degree of stigma, second only to the plague perhaps. It's been around for millennia and still persists today, though it has become perfectly treatable in modern times. The mythical image of leprosy in public awareness includes the misconception that leprosy causes limbs to fall off. It doesn't, though it can cause severe deformations that can in turn lead to secondary needs for amputations in some cases. But it's not like fingers suddenly just dropping off. That's just a myth. Forget that right away. The more crucial element of what made the mere word "lepers", i.e. leprosy sufferers, carry such a load of social stigma, is probably: a) the fact that it can be so disfiguring if it affects the face, i.e. if its primary "uglifying" symptoms show the most; and b) the common misconception of leprosy as a highly contagious disease, even an incurable one at that. It is contagious, no doubt, but a lot less so than legend has it – and these days it is curable, especially if diagnosed in its early stages. It is not transmitted by touch, i.e. mere skin contact, nor is it sexually transmitted. Instead it is most likely passed on through respiratory droplets (though the exact path of transmission and incubation is still not fully understood).