The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1920-06-29

Warrington, D. c. June NJ
That the brief announcements e :
cure Tor leproey have been some
Whist, lnisleadfng 70 the public. vas
announced BY the public health
seryice today. The facts 81 the 90
called cure are that $50 patisnts Of
the Hawaiian 1eper colony have
been treated for from six to Is
months With chanlmoogra oil. and
o. these ~ have been paroled from
the asylum - supposedly we'll. All
those treated were in early stages
Of the disease. % It u almost hope
less TO attempt cures Of patients
far advanced.
Forty-eight probable cures Of the
most dreaded disease known to hu-
mainly Is an encouraging achieve
ment. but the public health SER
vice points out that over one hum
dred cases failed to respond, and
that. ON the whole, leprosy contfn-
ues to be . mystery.
Chaulmoogra oil, the product OF
. tropical plum tree. has for near
" = century been regarded ~ .
remedy for leprosy, but the dose
Is 20 nauseating that few patients
can stand taking it internally. long
enough to derive any benefit from
It. Not long ago, however. some
doctors tried making hypodermic
injection Of the oil into the mus
cles Of . patients arm. This was
the method used In the Hawaiian
hospital. Why the oil fails to ben
cit some cases which have advanc-
ed no farther than those cured IL
not altogether understood.
Leprosy is one Of the most baf-
ding maladies known to the medi-
cal profession. It u found all over
the world and in people of prac-
tically every race. There are about
5000, 900 cases now. most Of them
in China where the people are
either more susceptible or the
germs are more prevalent. Its
cause has been attributed at diff
ferent times to climate, too little
salt in food. unsanitary living con-
ditions, and spoiled fish. 1t was
only Q few years ago that doctors
discovered that there is bacillus
of leprosy, very similar to that OF
tuberculosis, but nobody has yet
found out positively how this germ
is transmitted.
When the bacillus was isolated.
1t was supposed that animals could
be inoculated with it and serum
obtained to cure the disease. but 40
animal has ever been found that
can contract leprosy. Four million
and more deadly germs have been
injected into a guinea pig, rabbit,
horse, rat or some other animal
with the result that the subject re-
NAMED untainted.
Almost the same. thing is true OF
human beings. OF the few men who
have allowed themselves to be in
oculated, one case stands out in
which the subject really became
leprous. This man. a Hawaiian
convicted of murder, was given the
choice Of hanging or incubation
with leprosy. He agreed to be used
as a subject Of experiment. In five
years he developed the disease and
spent the rest of his life in a Jail
at the Hawaiian leper settlement.
Hundreds Of Lepers Here.
Doctors agree that all animals
and IS per cent of human beings
are immune to the germ OF leprosy
There are at least five or six hun
dred lepers in this country, good
many of them at large. Some dc
not give themselves up to quaran-
tine so long as the disease can be
concealed, while others escape
from the miserable and lonely
quarters into which they are thrust
by states which have not organized
leper asylums. These refugees flet
from one place to another. They
ride on trains, street cars, handle
money, and eat in public lunch
rooms. But few people are favor
able subjects, the effects Of contact
with these outcasts are negligible
Even when lepers continue tt
live with their husbands. wives, Of
other relatives, who have not con
tracted the disease, there is onlJ
about one chance In twenty Of tht
clean person becoming infected
This was long ago believed to b.
true, and it was definitely demon
strated by a census taken at thu
Hawaiian leper settlement.
AS Hawaiian lepers are allowed
to have . member Of the famil!
live with them on the island, there
are an unusually large number O
untainted persons In their settle
ment. OF % men living there witt
leprous wives, five only wer'
found to have developed the diseas'
while OF So women married to lep
ers, four had taken it. Because
the disease may not develop TO
several years-occasionally as lonI
as Is years-after the person be
comes infected, only persons VIII
had been exposed at least thre'
years were considered in making
up the figures.
Statistics have also been com
piled to show that leprosy is no
hereditary. In Hawaii and tn