The Hawaiian gazette., 1901-08-23
LEPROSY AND TUBERCULOSIS.

TWO events of Importance in the med
iCal world Of this year have been the
congress held in London for the pur-
pose of hearing reports upon the prog
ress made in the study of consumption,
and the report of the commission of sur
ceons appointed to study the preNa-
lence of leprosy in the United States.
The latter is of great Importance Ia
this community, msomuch as there
was danger and it may not be passed,
of an attempt to saddle all the lepers
of the Nation upon the Molokai settle
ment.
From the findings of the commission
there appears to be in the neighbor-
hood of 900 cases of the dread disease
i'm the United States. although after two
years effort there has been located only
217 cases absolutely. There We're sent
out 5000 circulars to physicians and
others who would know of the exist
ence of cases, and of these only 1000
ELECTED replies, From this number the
cases We're located. The New York
Tribune, in dispatch from Washing
ton. says of the disease and its victims:
/ About one hundred are known to live
I in New Orleans, many. of whom are we'll
! to-do persons of good families. In Min
nesota about twenty cases have been re-
ported, the disease there being found
mostly among the Scandinayians living
in the rural districts. In New fork
seven casess have been reported, while in
Chicago only three have been found so
far In San Francisco fifteen cases are
known, twelve of which are confined In
the pest-houSe. There are fifteen in
North Dakota, and only two in South
Dakota. In New Mexico there are at
least IA dozen, and Baltimore reports
three cases The remainder are scatter
ed throughout the country. owing to the
fact that three-fourths of the circulars
have brought no replies, especially from
suspicious districts. the authorities esti-
mate that only about one-fourth of the
cases of leprosy have been reported.
The commission will almost certainly
recommend to Congress in its forthcom-
ing preliminary report i'll December that
national la2arettos Ice established In sew
eral parts Of the country-one, perhaps.
at New orleans. one in New Mexico, and
another in Minnesota or Montana. A
generous appropriation will be asked.
large enough to cover the erection of
fine isolated buildings, attractively
equipped with every imaginable conven-
ence flor the comfort and pleasure of
the sufferers. by this means it is hoped
to overcome the general antipathy to
isolation of the diseased, and thus
move the greatest obstacle in the way of
preventing the disease from spreading.
Not the least interesting result ac-
complished by the investigation is the
conviction of the experts that, notwith-
standing the widespread distribution of
leprous patients in the United States
and the increase in the last decade,
,here is little ground for alarm, They
are assured that the disease is not so
fatal or so readily transmitted by con-
tagion. infection, or association as tuber-
culosis. 1t has also been shown that
cases are not uncommon where lepers are
temporarily cured by a couple of years
treatment. Under ordinary conditions,
such as exist in New York, for instance.
IN the opinion of the experts, there is at
! least hundred times more danger OF
| contracting consumption than there is OF
railing victim To the contagiousness OF
lleprosy"