leper colonies
Quarantined patient communities
Leper colonies were isolated communities where people with leprosy (Hansen's disease) were forcibly confined, often for life.
Fear of contagion led societies worldwide to banish the afflicted to remote islands or settlements: Molokai in Hawaii, Culion in the Philippines.
The practice largely ended in the mid-20th century when leprosy became treatable with antibiotics.
Figuratively, any place of exile for the unwanted: The department became a leper colony for troublesome employees.
- communitiesGroups with shared ties
- outcastsRejected, excluded people
- isolationComplete separation from others
- Hansen's diseaseBacterial infection affecting nerves
- wasting diseaseIllness causing bodily deterioration
quarantine · exile · enclave · stigma · social exclusion · ringing bells · rehabilitation · tropical medicine · segregation policies · hidden away · institutions · settlement · skin lesions · no man's land · nerve damage · treatment · mission hospitals · last resort
- colonial medicinebloodletting, leeches, cupping, apothecary, tropical medicine
- medical historyHippocrates, germ theory, bloodletting, Galen, four humors
- LeprosyHansen's disease, mycobacterium, bacillus, bacilli, skin lesions
- Biblical Afflictionsblindness, boils, plagues, pestilence, lameness
- historical institutionsguild, papacy, caliphate, shogunate, sultanate
- Lost PlacesPompeii, Herculaneum, Pripyat, Chernobyl, ghost towns
leper coloniesinclusive communities
Societies welcoming all members
general population · the public · open society · mixed neighborhoods · sanctuaries
leper colonieshospitals
Institutions treating the sick
treatment centers · rehabilitation centers · outpatient clinics · medical centers · clinics
leper coloniesgated communities
Enclosed neighborhoods with controlled access
exclusive clubs · high society · aristocratic circles · inner circles · halls of power
leper, colony, lepers, colonies, leprosy, leprous, colonial, colonist, colonize