The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-03-22
LONG TONG HAS LEPROSY.
DIR. FOI FINDS THE CHINA MANS
CASE GENUINE.
The Patient Sent to North Brother Island
for Recommendations Cases of I.eprosy
In New York and Their Durability Dan
gers OF ContaGion Fe wer Than Supposed.

for Trcntment-Other Cases of Leproay
In New York and Their Durability Dan
gers OF ContaGion Fewer Than Supposed.
DR.. George II. Fox. the skin specialist, who
was commissioned by the Board of Health to
decide whether Long Tong had leprosy or not.
has decided that his is genuine leprosy. and
the Chinaman has been removed to North
Brother Island. DIR. Fox's report will be read
at the next meeting Of tho Board of Health.
Il know that for the last twenty years." DR..
Fox said to a Sun reporter yesterday. there
always have been n small number Of cases Of
genuine leprosy here In New York. Some of
them were treated privately, and Others we're
taken to hospitals. ! say a small number,
but cannot speak more definitely than that.
because from time to time the number Is con-
stantly changing. Some die off or go away,
and others recover. But l can say positively
that during all this time there never has been
a single case of infection from one OF these
patients. The popular impression about lcp-
rosy and its contagious features Is very er-
roneous. Leprosy Is no more dangerous than
consumption. Persons In n street car are very
much more likely to contract tuberculosis
from the expcctoration of a consumptive than
to get leprosy from the presence of a leper.
Leprosy IL, OF course, contagious, and prob
ably it can be contracted in accidental ways.
as other diseases of the blood are; but the
terror of n leper is something that is not
founded on fact. Ten years ago a man In a
very advanced stage of leprosy was treated
here at one of the hospitals, and he recovered,
proving that leprosy can be cured. There are
other cases just as conclusive, hut thai man
was carefully treated In the hospital, and he
received all the comforts of life. whereas. II
he had been locked up in a la2aretto and his
food handed through n hole to him.. probably
he would nave died. The great difficulty in
curing leprosy Is that as soon as u nersOn learns
he has 1t he Is made to believe that all hope is
gone. He Is treated rs II doomed man and
made to believe that. he Is an object to be
stunned by everybody. Naturally enough,
II is difficult for Il person to recover under such
circumstances
I'm Europe the leprosv patients are treated
in the hospitals along with the rest OF the pa
tients. and they are not isolated nor made to
feel that nobody may go near them. The
Chtnaman, Long Tong, was sent by the Board
of Health to North Brother Island, probably
out OF respect OF the popular prejudice against
lcpers; but doctors and nurses live for y cirs in
disease. This Chinaman was II striking eN-
ample of another popular error about lepcrs.
They are supposed TO he lOathsome objects. hor-
rihle and repugnant, yet. rs n ma, ter of fact,
but for one or two marks on his face, Long
Tong was as healthy a looking Chinaman "a
ever saw. In fact, In any group of lepcrs,
probably the majority would not show any
signs of the disease unless II was in the most
advanced stage. Most OF the lcpers In New
York have contracted the disease In some of
the countries In which %leprosy Is endemic,
since, as said, there has been no case known
in the past twenty years which developed here.
People suppose that lepTOSy Is confined to the
tropical regions, although there Is Il great deal
of II in NORWAY and sweden. There could be no