The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-06-24
THE WORLDS MOST
 DREADED DISEASE  New Facts About Leprosy Alice Hamilton M D. Investigator Illinois Commission on OccupationaI Diseases. Exclusive Service The Survey Press Bureau.)
New Facts About Leprosy

! ond, those who came in less close con- l tact with lepers-priests and members of nursing and religious orders.
 The territorial board of health Is liauthorized by law to permit a clean adult to accompany a 1eper to the set clement. Upon the death of the 1ep- CT, or for other reasons, the Kokua may leave the settlement, after a freedom from 1eproSy. It frequent ly happens, however. that the person remains and narr1es another leper. Usually these Kokuas have no dread of becoming infected with the disease.
 Infection in a Leper Colony.
 The examination of 119 male Ko- kuas, 9S of whom were married to lepers, showed that 6 had developed leprosy. These five were all husbands of lepers. Among the 21 who lived with 1epers but not in eonjugaI ,rela- tions none developed it
 Among the women the figures were very similar Four out Of 3 women married to Iepers became infected with the disease, one out of B living with 1epers other than husbands. This one was mother, taking care of her leprous son.
 These ten persons developed the disease after periods of exposure rang twelve years On the other hand 21 of those who have not developed the disease have been in the colony be- tween five and ten years.
 The percentage of contagious then is between four and five, and low as actually true. for about ? per cent of the general native population of the islands develops 1eprosy. Therefore some of these may have been infected outside.
 The members of the second class are all Caucasians and include priests, Franciscan Sisters Brothers of the Order of St., Francis and others who come into intimate contact with the 1epers in nursing them, applying dressings, etc They do not at pres ent live in the same houses with the lepers. Indeed in most cases the latter are forbidden to enter the houses of these clean persons. It is understood, however, that in earlier years, some of these nurses and priests were quartered in the same buildings with 1epers- In this group there were 12 women, none of whom developed leprosy, and l2S men. of whom acquired the disease. One was a priest, the weH-known Father Da,- mien. The second was Brother of the Order of St. Francis. The time that elapsed after the beginning of their association with lepers and the appearance of the disease was three years, nine years and seventeen years.
 Mention should be made of the fact that in some of the earlier re- ports from the settlement. we find it stated that 8 very large percentage of clean persons became Iepers. What ever may have been the facts in the early days of the settlement, it is cer- tain that no such state of affairs ex- ists at the present time. It is just possible that the improved general sanitary conditions, under which the settlement has been operated in recent years. may have lessened the risk of infection"
 After reading this report one can not help feeling that the popular dread of 1eprosy has led to an unnec- essari1y cruel treatment by the public of those whose misfortune is already so terrible.