Leprosy in Egypt

Although leprosy is on the verge of extinction and currently a curable disease, there still remain some leprosy colonies. Abu Zaabal, Egypt's leprosy colony 40 km north of Cairo, is one of them. Built in 1933, lepers were brought in by police and were not allowed to leave- isolation was seen as the only treatment. Now, living conditions there are much better than in most patients' poor rural villages. About 750 patients and another 3,000-4,000 cured lepers living in the adjoining Abdel Moneim Riad village don't want to leave. Here they don't have to fear stigma or harassment. This is not a story about suffering and misery, but rather about daily life in a forgotten place. A longer version you find on my blog.