Even if Laurette did contract leprosy, you're talking the sixties.

Ironically, Archange never contracted leprosy, though her parents and seven siblings had had the disease.

From his great exertions, however, he contracted leprosy, so that he looked ill, wretched, and dreadful.

Another day a young man who had contracted leprosy came to Mochuda showing him his misery and his wretched condition.

(And what on earth does the bit about what to do if your house contracts leprosy mean?)

At first there was a theory that the victims had contracted leprosy and committed suicide as a result; but the medical evidence disproved that.