At the start of this year there were two hundred thirteen thousand cases of leprosy reported in one hundred twenty-one countries.

VOA: special.2009.10.14

He was forty-nine years old. Leprosy -- also called Hansen's disease is a bacterial disease that causes skin wounds and nerve damage.

VOA: special.2009.10.14

Yet he says this message is often more scary for people than the idea that leprosy is some sort of spiritual punishment.

VOA: special.2009.10.14

In India, leprosy has traditionally been considered a punishment for something bad done in a former life.

VOA: special.2009.10.14

But doctors have been able to treat leprosy since the nineteen forties.

VOA: special.2009.10.14

After several years of working in the colony, he himself developed leprosy.

VOA: special.2009.10.14

But there are places where leprosy is still spreading quickly.

VOA: special.2009.10.14

Born in Istanbul, in the early years of the Turkish republic, she rose to become a world authority in leprosy and was in the forefront of eradicating the disease in Turkey.

VOA: standard.2009.05.20