The Washington times., 1908-08-25
Tokens of sympathy.
Medical Men Deprecate
Danger of LeproSy

-Tsprosy is not nearly so contagious
or infectious as is imagined. IN fact.
the average individual would have a
hard time contracting it"
This Is the consensus of opinion
among army and navy medical men.
Without exception, every surgeon of
either military branch of the Govern
ment, who was approached on the sub
ject today, gave II as his positive opln-
Son that t. took long contact to get iep-
rosy, and that some men and women
could not get IL, even IL they lived with
a leper for quite while
Surg. Gen. Presley N. RiXey, Of the
navy, says that the disease from an in
fectiOus and contagious standpoint is
not nearly so bad as was popularity be-
lieved.
'Tt is not nearly so contagious or in
fectious as tuberculosis" he said, "and
there are many persons walking around
the streets continuously with cOnsump-
tiOn. a diseases which is more easily
disseminated, and is just as dread IN
the hnal analysis OF death"
Colonel Harvard's View.
Col. Valery Harvard, Acting Surgeon
General Of the Army. says that the i'm
preston that ieprosy is greatly infec-
tious and easily transmitted is all
wrong.
'It IS only slightly contagious" he
said. ''In Cuba. a few years ago. 1 in
spected the leprOsy settlement. and
found that there had not been a single
case of infection IN twelve years. not
even among the attendants and nurses
who came In contact with articles han
died by the lepers. OF course. they took
care of themselves. but that is TO be
expected. tuberculosis is much more
Infectious and dangerous than leprosy.'
Another army surgeon told of his OBJ
servations IN the Philippines.
Some effort is made 10 cOloniZe the
lepers there" he said. but il has not
been done. Many of them walk about,
shake hands with their friends. and
otherwise have intercourse with them.
without disastrous results, few, If any,
contract the disease in this way. That
leprOsV IS so easily transmitted Is
rash and foolish statement. It Is not.
The disease is horrible to look at, and
The suDarsdtious dread OF it probably
arose from this fact.
How Il Got to Islands
That reminds me of a story OF how
leprosy got into the Philippines. In the
early days. when the Spanish priests
had partly Christianized the Philippines
they were extending their work to
Japan. This was before the days of the
Mlkado, when the various Sho-guns
ruled. The holy fathers, in addition to
spreading Christianity, used to treat
leprosy, which was TO degree preva-
lent They had been working in the tribe
OF one Of the ShO-guns. who evolved the
idea that II the priests liked TO treat
lepers, and came all the way from the
islands 10 do it. a better way would be
10 send the lepers 10 the Philippines.
which he did. Approximately 300 lepers
were loaded on ship and sent to the
Philippines"
Surgeon T. n. Mclean, Of the navy,
g~-Ha E-zv -H. -
ment leper colony at Guam, and has
studied conditions there, as well as at
other points Of colonization, declares
that the disease is not greatly con-
tagtOus and infectious and that he did
not have any fear Of II, and never had.
He cited instances Of Catholic priests,
and the sisters OF the Catholic orders
who had gone to live among the lepers
be said that when he left Guam there
were six or eight of them who had been
living with the lepers for years, without
a single case of infection. He said that
II is impossible for some persons to
contract the disease.
How 1t May Be Contracted.
OF course, 1t is possible that some
persons. through their blood, or other
wise, who are particularly open TO in
fectiOn. might get the disease through
q more brief contact.
All OF the surgeons agreed that there
was a possibility that the wife and child
OF Early would not contract the dis
ease They said that through long and
close contact, II is possible that they
may, though the result depends largely
on their physical condition
The surgeons also agree that the dis
ease. IN its inception. is a mystery. How
IL originally attacks they do not know.
II IS only from observation that they are
certain that IL Is only after long con-
tact II Is communicated from one per
son to another.
Many Of the army and navy surgeons
criticised the methods followed in many
instances by municipal and State health
authorities in dealing with lepers. For
reasons of professional ethics, the doc-
tors refused 70 permit the use of their
names. They were OF one accopd, how
ever in their denunCiation OF the un-
kindness in nearly every instance per-
petraJed on a man sOrely afflicted.
They referred to many different cases,
recalling one particularly, where a
Syrian was shunted almost over the
entire United States, avoided by every
human being who saw him, and finally
died from lack Of nourishing food.