640CE

In seventh-century Alexandria, Paul of Aegina strongly supported the view that leprosy was among the most contagious diseases. “After Paul, however, no subsequent Byzantine physician described leprosy as contagious. . . This may have been because “Byzantine physicians had come to see such a view concerning the propagation of leprosy and perhaps other diseases as immoral and unethical” (T. Miller & Nesbitt, 56-7).