Leprosy in Mesopotamia

Leprosy is an ancient disease, known from south asia since atleast 2000 bce. while there is no physical evidence of this diseasein the region before about 50 ce, five different words aretranslated as “leprosy” in mesopotamian texts and some of themoccur frequently. based on the texts, one word (garasu) is rarelyused and there is evidence that the other four words relate to diseasesthat were treated, could be cured and, did not always requirethat affected individuals be permanently excluded from society.from this we conclude that the four commonly seen words donot describe modern leprosy. three words (saharasubbu, epqu,garabu) also signify “scales” or “scabs”, which naturally promptsthe speculation that they are skin diseases more serious than eczema.the final word (busanu) has been associated with severalmodern diseases, but the common feature appears to be a bacterialinfection affecting the skin, mouth and nose.