NTR De Kennis van Nu: Expeditie lepra

While a pandemic may seem like a thing of the past, new diseases are cropping up all the time, many of which are transmitted from animals to humans. But what if there are diseases that should have been eradicated long ago? Each year, roughly 200,000 are diagnosed with leprosy, a disease that can be treated with medication and that can only be transmitted from person to person. Toine Pieters, a history of science professor, decided to research this. Together with a team of scientific heavyweights, he went in search of the origins of the leprosy bacteria in Suriname. Filmmaker Boris Everts documented the expedition.

De Kennis van Nu tells the story of this remarkable expedition that yielded new insights into the transmission of leprosy. Perhaps the lessons learned can help us combat new diseases, such as the novel coronavirus.