Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-07-10
GIVES
some new FACTS
ABOUT LEPR0SY
Dr.. Alice Hamilton Touches
Case of John r. Early and
/ Shows Low COntagion

John r. Early. who recently sur
rendered himself to the district health
office. Washington. y, c.. in an effort
! to focus, public attention on the need
OF national lepTosarium, and who Is
now in SOLITARY confinement en- the
Eastern branch. is cited. although not
by name, by Dr. Alice Hamilton. in
yestigator Of the Illinois commission
On OcCupatiOnal diseases, in a treat:se
written for the Survey, entitled New
Facts About I-eprosy, the World
Nest Dread Disease"
In speaking Of Early she writes:
A man recently gave himself up to
the federal health authorities because
he became convinced that he is a vic
tim Of leprOsy. The newspapers told
how Just previously he had stopped at
good hotels to demonstrate how little
precautiCn is taken against the dan
ger of cOntagiCn. He had contracted
the disease as soldier in the Philip
pines, but did not know what it was
Some doctors said it was leprosy, 9TH
ers said it was not. Finally it devel-
cped into clear case.
The man in giving himself up is
reported to have said that he wanted
to emphasize the great need for the
provision by the United States govern
ment of a place for the treatment of
leprosy. The public health service
has urged that it be given authority
and funds to establish hospital for
leprosy, and bill for that purpose is
now pending in Congress-
May Be 500 Lepers in U. s.
Regarding the spread of the dis
case throughout tn country she con-
tinues:
New Orleans, s an Francisco and
certain portions of Minnesota, Wiscon-
sin and Iowa are the places where lep-
rosy is chiefly to be found in this
country. but isolated cases have been
found in almost every state Occa-
sionally patients appear at clinics in
Chicago, Philadelphia. New York and
Boston. 1t has been estimated that
the number of lepers in the United
States is between 200 and 800 Much
concern has recently arisen as to the
control of the disease, and the sub
ject is also being agitated in Norway,
france anu CIn6T countries.
Dread and horror of leprosy are
centuries old. Old Hebrew laws
against it are impressed on our minds
by touching incidents in the life of
Jesus, and the Bible stories convey
the idea that leprosy is the most
loathsome of diseases. 1t is usually
mutilating and disfiguring. but no
more so than some forms of cancer
In early stages it is so far from loath-
some that it is often supposed to be
some harmless skin disease until the
patient comes into the hands of a
specialist. Sometimes the specialist
decides that the only merciful thing
to do is to keep the diagnosis a Sc
cret, for he knows the cruel fate which
is in store for leper at the hands of
the public
Every now and then we are shock
ed to read in the papers a report from
some part of the country telling of the
discovery of leper and of the extra
ordinary means taken by the commu-
nifty to protect itself against contagion.
Sometimes lonely cabin is selected
and the patient put there to pass his
life in solitary confinement, seeing no
one but the man who brings hin food,
| who deposits it at distance and hur-
ries away for fear of breathing the in
fected air. More than one such victim Of
popular ignorance has killed himself
rather than endure life under these
circumstances. Yet if somebody with
more pity or intelligence than the
general public undertakes to care for
a leper he runs the risk of sharing
his patients ostracism. A few months
ago the Chicago papers were full of
| the story of young woman who had
been nurse in a leper hospital. had
tried to come back to ordinary life
| and found to her dismay that she was
an object of fear to every one, and
that there was no course open to her
but return to the lepers.
Leprosy Not Highly Contagious.
"Leprosy is not highly contagious;
1t is not carried in the air; in most
cases there has been close contact
with leDer over long period of time
before the infection was acquired,
and even then infection could have
been prevented.
\ "A recent bulletin of the public
health service contains a report of a
fseries of studies made in Molokai, an
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