system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5 why was leprosy such a big issue hundreds of years ago?

I remember  watching a documentary about a Greek town where they would send people with Leprosy. Why was leprosy such a big deal if 95% of people are immune to it?
gpt
Before the cure for leprosy was discovered it was common throughout most of the world. North America was largely spared but the US did have it's own leper colony in Louisiana. If you contracted leprosy you were sent there to die. Ancient sources tended to call every skin disease leprosy, even what we now call leprosy today is actually three different diseases with different origins.