1889: Father Damien dies of leprosy

Father Damien, who dedicated his life to caring for patients with leprosy on the Hawaiian island Moloka‘i, dies of the disease.

In 1873, a Norwegian physician, Gerhard Henrik Armauer Hansen (b. 1841–d. 1912) identified the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae as the cause of leprosy. Today the disease bears his name: Hansen’s disease.

Theme

Epidemics

Region

Hawai‘i