Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-01-27
LEPRosY.

The issue raised by Miss Donthat. a
pupil OF the Johns Hopkins Hospital
School for trained nurses. and which IN
volved the question OF nursing a leprous
patient. has revived interest in the ques-
tons whether leprosy can be extirpated
and whether II is contagious.
In a late issue Of the Philadelphia Medi-
cal Journal there Ii a report OF the pro-
! ceedlngs OF the First international
Scientific Leprosy Conference (Berlin)'
which contains some very interesting
| facts bearing on this question. on the
fifth day OF the conference Or. Hansen
| opened the discussion on the Isolation
Of Lepers.' by describing the results OF
isolation In Norway, and showed that
| through this method of dealing with the
! disease great strides had been made In
stamping II out. The Norwegian authori-
ties. DR.. Hansen said, began the cam
pafgn against leprosy by promising free
board and lodging TO lepers seeking the
asylums. In 1880 a reduction in the num-
Der Of iepers in those parts where isola-
ton had been resorted to was first OBJ
served. In 1S7S-'79 only poor lepers were
received into the asylums. Through a
law passed in 1856. however. all well-to-do
lepers-who do not fulfil the requirements
for their efficient isolation at home-may
be compelled TO enter the asylums. The
rules required to be observed by lepers
remaining at home are that they must
have separate bed linen and eating uten-
sis, that these must be washed sepa-
rately, and that rigid cleanliness must OBJ
tain.
The speaker, the report tells us, travels
about Norway almost every year. giving
popular lectures to the people. He only
lectures to healthy individuals, as he
long ago found 1t useless to try to per-
suade lepers to be careful towards those
about them. He had succeeded. he
stated, in making 1t practically impossi-
BILE for a well-to-do leper in Norway to
get a servant 10 attend him--the result
being that such lepers were finally forced
TO seek the asylums. Coming down to
figures. he said that in 1856 there 2,83
lepers in Norway (most OF them not In
asylums); in 1897 there were about 700;
mostly in asylums. He believed that
leprosy would before long disappear from
Norway. Since 1856 the district physi-
clans had been obliged to report all lepers
by name. DIR. Hansen thought that the
fact that leprosy had ceased to exist
among the Norwegian settlers in the
United States was due to these settlers
having learned here habits of cleanliness
that were unknown to them in Norway.
In the further discussion Of the sub
iect Kerchner and Kubler were quoted
to show what was being done in Russia
to combat the disease, and it was said
that il was hoped the efforts being made
in that direction, and which were model
led on the Norwegian system, would lead
to leprosy's being brought under control.
In his connection, the statement was
made that up to 1869 leprosy had been
considered a non-contagious disease, but
since then that view had changed.
The conference was attended by lead
ing leprologists from all parts of the
world, and their net practical conclusion
was that leprosy is a contagious disease,
but that its spread can be prevented and
it can finally be stamped out by isolation.