Hansen's disease

American  

noun

Pathology.

1. leprosy.

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Hansen's disease British  

/ ˈhænsənz /

noun

1. pathol another name for leprosy

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Etymology

Origin of Hansen's disease

1935–40; named after G. H. Hansen (1841–1912), Norwegian physician and discoverer of leprosy-causing Mycobacterium leprae

Example Sentences

We flew from New York City to New Orleans on November 28, 2016, my father, my mother, my husband, my two little girls and I. Our rental car followed the path of the Mississippi northward, snaking past suburbs and swamps, tin-roofed shacks and dirt roads until we reached the Gillis W. Long Hansen’s Disease Center, formerly known as the Louisiana Leper Home, in Carville where my dad had once been a patient.

From Salon

In 1954, at the age of 16, my dad was living with my grandfather in the Bronx when he was diagnosed with Hansen’s Disease, the preferred designation for leprosy.

From Salon

I’d recently started writing my novel, “King of the Armadillos,” inspired by his experience, and he was helping me access material from the archives of the National Hansen’s Disease Museum.

From Salon

The magazine grew from a two-page mimeographed hospital newsletter to a well-respected Hansen’s disease news venue read by people in over 130 countries around the world.

From Salon

Its weather-worn headstones were a reminder of how, in the not-too-distant past, Hansen’s disease was a death sentence.

From Salon