02453nas a2200337   4500000000100000008004100001260001200042653001600054653001200070653004600082653002000128653001800148653002300166100001400189700001100203700001200214700001400226700001500240700001300255700001300268700001000281700001400291700001400305700001400319245016800333856015300501300000900654490000800663520143000671022001402101       2024                            d  c07/202410aAvar period10aleprosy10aMacromorphological disease manifestations10aPalaeopathology10aSocial Stigma10aTrans-Tisza region1 aTihanyi B1 aSamu L1 aKoncz I1 aHergott K1 aMedgyesi P1 aPálfi G1 aSzabó K1 aKis L1 aMarcsik A1 aMolnár E1 aSpekker O00aA glimpse into the past of Hansen's disease - Re-evaluation and comparative analysis of cases with leprosy from the Avar period of the Trans-Tisza region, Hungary.  uhttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1472979224000787/pdfft?md5=68a1f057b3b4b6cf8b126d76664314ee&pid=1-s2.0-S1472979224000787-main.pdf  a1-190 v1483 a<p>Our knowledge of how society viewed leprosy and treated its victims in the past is still scarce, especially in geographical regions and archaeological periods from where no written sources are available. To fill in some research gaps, we provide the comparative analysis of five previously described, probable cases with leprosy from the Avar-period Trans-Tisza region (Hungary). The five skeletons were subject to a detailed macromorphological (re-)evaluation. Where possible, the biological and social consequences of having leprosy were reconstructed based on the observed bony changes and mortuary treatment, respectively. The retrospective, macromorphology-based diagnosis of leprosy could be established in three cases only. Based on the detected skeletal lesions, all of them suffered from near-lepromatous or lepromatous leprosy. The disease resulted in aesthetic repercussions and functional implications, which would have been disadvantageous for these individuals, and limited or changed their possibilities to participate in social situations. They could have even required heavy time investment from their respective communities. The analysis of the mortuary treatment of the confirmed leprosy cases revealed no evidence of a social stigma. These findings indicate that the afflicted have not been systematically expulsed or segregated, at least in death, in the Early Middle Ages of the Carpathian Basin.</p>  a1873-281X