leprosy

plural leprosies

1. uncountableusuallymedicineAn infectious disease caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae, gradually producing nerve damage and patches of skin necrosis and historically handled by permanently quarantining its sufferers.

   Then is it surely a leprosy

   1535, Myles Coverdale, Bible, Lev. 8:3

   3 more examples

   The great London doctors knew nothing about leprosy and cared less.

   1925, Frank Harris, My Life and Loves, volume III, page 183

   The new drug—diaminodiphenylsulphone... offers the first certain cure... and leprosy can be cured in six months

   1954, Elspeth J. Huxley, Four Guineas, page 267

   Ten words exactly. After ten it's extra. You see, Daddy thinks of these things. If I had leprosy, there'd be a cable: "Gee, kid, tough. Sincerely hope nose doesn't fall off. Love."

   1972, Jay Presson Allen, Cabaret, spoken by Sally Bowles (Liza Minnelli)

   Synonyms: Hansensiasis, Hansen's disease, lepra, mesel, measles, elephantiasis, Greek elephantiasis, Greek leprosy

2. datedproscribeduncountableusuallymedicineSimilar contagious skin diseases causing light patches of scaly skin, particularly psoriasis, syphilis, vitiligo, scabies, and (biblical) the various diseases considered "tzaraath" in the Old Testament.
3. figurativelyuncountableusuallyAnything considered similarly permanent, harmful, and communicable, particularly when such a thing should be handled by avoidance or isolation of its victims.

   Sin is a spiritual leprosy.

4. A contagious disease causing similar effects in animals, particularly
   1. abbreviationellipsisuncountableusuallyveterenary medicineEllipsis of murine leprosy or feline leprosy (“diseases caused in rodents and cats by Mycobacterium lepraemurium”).
   2. obsoleteuncountableusuallyveterenary medicineSynonym of mange and glanders in horses.

      Synonyms: mange and glanders in horses

5. obsoleterareuncountableusuallySynonym of leprosarium: a place for the housing of lepers in isolation from the rest of society.

   Synonyms: leprosarium