Register | Sign In


Understanding through Discussion


EvC Forum active members: 65 (9162 total)
4 online now:
Newest Member: popoi
Post Volume: Total: 915,815 Year: 3,072/9,624 Month: 917/1,588 Week: 100/223 Day: 11/17 Hour: 0/0


Thread  Details

Email This Thread
Newer Topic | Older Topic
  
Author Topic:   Intent of Mosaic Law on "Leprosy"
anastasia
Member (Idle past 5952 days)
Posts: 1857
From: Bucks County, PA
Joined: 11-05-2006


Message 5 of 10 (408884)
07-05-2007 3:51 PM
Reply to: Message 1 by On it
07-05-2007 11:35 AM


Cutaneous lesions break out on the skin of young adults consisting in discoloured or bronzed spots on dark skins or slightly reddish ones on light coloured skins. The edge of the lesions is more or less marked and distinct. According the patient's defence reactions specific clinical aspects develop later from this first lesion which is called "the undetermined one". This was made accurately clear by J. Languillon* in the early nineteen sixties and then by Ridley and Jopling.
Whenever the patient's resistance is strong and stable, he develops the so-called Tuberculoid Leprosy with characteristic cutaneous and nerve lesions. This leprous neuritis strikes preferentially some nerves such as those of the cervical plexus, and also the ulvar and median nerves, and the external popliteal nerve. This neuritis results in paralyses and in an impaired trophicity. Bacilli are scarce and found clasped into dense inflammatory tissues and the patient is not contagious.
With an individual who has no resistance, a special variety occurs which is called Lepromatous Leper. The patient displays infiltrated cutaneous lesions called "lepromas". Neurological disorders are unobtrusive and there are frequent visceral lesions. Bacilli are easily found and the patient is contagious.
Between these two well characterized varieties ,there is a wide range of others which are named "intermediate varieties" because of unstable and fluctuating defence reactions.
Apparently, there are two forms of leprosy, one 'clean' and one 'unclean.
You may be putting the horse before the cart in deciding that a religious connotation came before the observation of the two types of symptoms. It is more so that observations which were not understood took on a religious symbolism. There was no distinction between relgious 'unclean' and hygenic 'unclean'. No seperation between 'just a disease' and ' a punishment from God'.
On it writes:
I'm particulary interested in whether we know of any diseases which would have come under these laws and ceases to become infectious when spread all over a person's body or not? Is such a thing possible? (I haven't found anything yet.)
Perhaps by the time Leviticus was written, real life observation had become part of superstition and religion. Segregation of lepers continued well into the 1800's, and I am not sure that it did nothing to help the spread of leprosy, but I would also not put this down as 'proof' of any secret knowledge coming from God. We could ask how the Israelites knew to segregate lepers, and fear would be an obvious reason that requires no thought or revelation.
I don't see anything in the passage which talks about two colors of skin. It talks about raw skin as opposed to healed skin.
The part in Leviticus where a person shows his disease to the priest, and comes back later for a review, sort of ties in with the above mention of the 'undetermined' lesion. Again, I would ask you to think about whether this notion of color was the cause or the result of the fear of leprosy.
Hope that helps, at least to get the topic going.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 1 by On it, posted 07-05-2007 11:35 AM On it has not replied

  
Newer Topic | Older Topic
Jump to:


Copyright 2001-2023 by EvC Forum, All Rights Reserved

™ Version 4.2
Innovative software from Qwixotic © 2024