01460nas a2200181   4500000000100000008004100001100001600042700001100058700002000069700001300089700001500102700002200117245013000139300001200269490000700281520097600288022001401264       2016                            d1 aBlondiaux J1 aNaji S1 aBocquet-Appel J1 aColard T1 aBroucker A1 aSeréville-Niel C00aThe leprosarium of Saint-Thomas d'Aizier: The cementochronological proof of the medieval decline of Hansen disease in Europe?  a140-1510 v153 a<p>This study compares the adult survivorship profiles of people interred in the Saint-Thomas d'Aizier leprosarium, estimated by cementochronology, to eight archaeological series in northern France dated from Late Antiquity to the Late Middle Ages, periods of significant visibility for Hansen's disease (leprosy). The goals are to understand the impact of leprosy on various social groups and to explore the cause of leprosy's decline by analyzing male and female fertility. Survival rates differed between medieval leprosy-free sites and the Saint-Thomas d'Aizier leprosarium, although this difference was statistically significant only for the female leprosarium sample. The selective female frailty, a consequence of social exclusion and the collapse of the quality of life, combined with the infertility of lepromatous couples, offer a multi-causal explanation to the end of the expansion and then decline of leprosy in southern and western European countries.</p>
  a1879-9825