The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1919-11-02
BORST WRITES
ABOUT LEPERS
By Henry eorst, M. D.

Now that the Surgeon General OF
&he Public Health Service has put the
question of 1eper colony on Flor
ida island squarely before the doctors
of the state, 1t behooves all of US to
find out more about the disease as 1t
exists at present in the United States,
and incidentally. in various parts of
the world. Everybody knows that 1ep-
rosy IL a very old disease, as prac-
tically no record of any ancient coun-
try is complete without some refer
epce 10 this horrible disease.
IN comparison with other diseases,
leprosy is extremely slow in develop
ment. While yellow fever may cause
death in 4S hours, it requires no less
than three years for the first signs
of leprosy to show themselves after
any suspicious contact, and some cases
are believed to go through an incuba-
ton period of ten or fifteen years.
Children born of lepers do not show
the first sign of the disease until after
they are three years old. Consump-
ton is about the slowest-acting dis
ease we meet with in everyday life.
Yet after it's onset it usually is fatal in
three or your years, unless cured in
the first stage.
Leprosy looks somewhat like tuber-
eulosis of the skin In the formation
of lumpy tumors. After many years
these tumors break down and ulcer
ate. In another type of the disease
the first attack is on the nerves.
They swell up and gradually lead to
n complete loss of feeling in the parts
20 which the affected nerves go. This
Us called the "anesthetic" type. In
kline this leads to Gripping deformi-
kies Of the hands of other extremities,
70 that the hands look like birds
claws. In the later development of
this type the fingers and toes drop
off. In other cases. both types of
THE disease are mingled, thus show
ing that it is all one disease.
/ It never appeared in Europe until
The Crusaders brought it back with
khem during the Middle Ages. Then
1t spread so rapidly in Europe that
many towns had to build special 1eper
hospitals. Thus it is stated that in
1925 in France, during the reign of
Louis VIII. there were no less than
1000 of these institutions. The fact
that there are now $50 million people
in Europe shows that they must have
downed the epidemics by such insula-
ton and care as they could give.
And that is the important thing
Among all of the more civilized people
who consider the welfare of the neigh
Dor, the disease is not of such a Sc
we're type, as in those countries where
life Is considered so cheap that few
seem to care what happens to the
rest.
1t is the same old story as has been
SO amply proven in the care of the
insane during the past five centuries.
In former times when person be-
came mentally afflicted he was said
to be possessed of demons" and the
then existing state of Christianity al
lowed the friends and relatives to
scourge the poor victims with whips,
and to chain them fast in cold, dark
dungeons. or else put them to death
quickly as a means of fighting the
demon"
Our attitude towards consumptives
Is changing SO rapidly in modern times
that one state is racing with another
In the effort to build more and more
up-to-date hospitals for them. in order
to protect the well from the sick This
is becoming a public duty rather than
a mere family care and affliction. And
now that our most prominent sani-
tarians are announcing that consump-
ton can't be cured until we cure the
poverty that underlies 1T. our econo-
mists are boldly facing the proposition
Of curing the great POVERTY DIS