One of the most popular brands of literature (yes, people still buy books; some even buy them the old fashion way at a bookstore) is the standby classic: mystery.
It might be hard to swallow, but it’s true. It is the second most popular genre behind romance/erotica. The genre goes by many names (such as mystery, thriller, crime, detective fiction, whodunit, hard-boiled, police procedural, and true crime), but they are all essentially the same in their appeal.
It is pretty simple actually; the author doesn’t tell the audience everything as it happens. The audience needs to put the pieces together in order to solve the mystery. Putting the audience in the thick of the story and forcing them to work it out for themselves explains the appeal.
This happens in real life, too. In fact, a medical mystery was solved for one Philadelphia man earlier this year. It turned out that he was suffering from a Biblical disease.
The Philadelphian in question is a house painter who immigrated to the United States from Costa Rica in 2007. He started experiencing numbness and tingling in his extremities, which he attributed to the chemicals in the paints that he works with every day. He chose not to see a doctor for several years because his job did not provide him with health insurance.
Eventually, the symptoms never abated, so he saw a doctor, who ordered numerous tests to identify the culprit behind the tingling sensation. The tests reveal nothing remarkable. Because his eyebrows and eyelashes were essentially missing, his doctor sent him to a dermatologist. This new doctor did biopsies of some scaly skin on the man’s legs and did more testing of his blood.
Low and behold, the man had Hansen’s disease.
That doesn’t sound like some rare Biblical disease. People know it better by another name: leprosy.
The stigma surrounding this disease is mostly unfounded. Most of the less than 200 new cases in the US present in immigrants. It is actually quite difficult to transmit, and it is relatively easily treated once identified. The concept of a leper colony should be dispensed and forgotten. The disease shows itself in the form of lesions and skin discoloration that looks like a rash.
Our intrepid hero of this story is back at work painting houses in the Philadelphia area and doing just fine. Though it may take some time for his eyebrows and eyelashes to grow back in.
Read more about his man by clicking here.
