William Levis, Who Battled the Stigma of Leprosy, Dies at 85

The physician-scientist contributed to advances in understanding and treating the ailment now also called Hansen’s disease. 

Through much of the 20th century, Americans with leprosy were forced to live out their lives in isolation at the National Leprosarium—later called the Gillis W. Long Hansen’s Disease Center—in Louisiana, which initially functioned more like a maximum-security prison. Patients who tried to escape were shackled to keep them from trying again.

Leprosy, a bacterial infection also known as Hansen’s disease, has been curable by a combination of antibiotics since 1981, and the facility closed in 1999. But people with leprosy say the stigma endures. They find that others still prefer to keep their distance, despite the fact that the disease isn’t spread through casual contact and 95% of people are naturally immune. Even doctors often suit up in masks, gloves and other personal protective equipment to treat patients with leprosy.

Dr. William Levis, one of the nation’s leading specialists in leprosy, eschewed such protection. As head of the Hansen’s Disease Clinic at New York’s Bellevue Hospital for nearly 25 years, the dermatologist made a point of holding his patients’ hands.

“He wasn’t afraid to touch them with his bare hands. In fact, he needed to do that to be able to feel nerve endings, the texture of the skin,” said Luis Balquin, a public-health nurse at the clinic. “But it was also a way to show compassion.”