Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1920-11-18
Think LEPROSY i;
IS CONQUERED
Doctors at Hawaiian Colony
Report Apparent Cure.
CHAULMOOCRA OIL IS USED

Forty-eight Sufferers From Dread
Malady, Subjected to New Method Of
Treatment, Recover to Such an Elk.
tent as to Warrant Their Release on
!. Parole and, After a Year, Not One
Has Shown a Symptom Of Recur.
renee Of Disease. F.,
LeprOsy, scourge of humanity
since early history, apparently has
: been conquered by officers 81 the
| United States public health service
In the leper colony at Kalihi, Hawaii.
Forty-eight sufferers of the dreaded
malady, who have been subjected to
new method Of treatment, have recov-
cred to such an extent rs to warrant
their release on parole and, after
year, not one has shown a symptom
! of recurrence.
AS yet, no announcement of "cure"
has been made officially, for some of
the government medical experts are
frankly skeptical Of the results. Il
may be years before an official ard
final opinion Is given.
The limit of the official claim Is set
forth IN a joint report to the public
health service made by Dr. J. T. Nc
Donald, director of the leprosy invcsti-
cation station and experimenting
physician to Kalihj hospital, and by
| President A. L. Dean of the Univer-
| sity of Hawaii, as follows:
at has been sufficiently established
/ that chaulmoogra oil contains one or
more agents which exert marked
therapeutic action in many cases of
leprosy. We cannot say as yet that
the disease Is cured, since we have no
test adequate to establish such YER
dict. Whether or not the apparent
cures are real and permanent, 1t Is
evident that we have valuable agent
at our disposal in the control of the
( disease" ;
Oil Derivatives Used.
Chattanooga oil in it's crude state
is no new drug for the treatment Of
leprosy, but in its raw form 1t proved
so nauseating and painful to patients
that it had to be temporarily discon-
tinued.
Science turned toward its deriva-
tives, and Doctors Mcdonald and Dean
report at was found that the ethyls OF
the fatty acids were thin fluid oils,
lending themselves readily to intra-
muscular injections and were readily
| absorbed"
Injection of the oil derivatives by a
syringe has brought a new hope to the
le, er, for at Kalihi hospital injection
day" Is described by the doctors re-
port as an occasion for merrymaking.
though Of painful experience for the
sufferers.
"The standard treatment" the re-
port says, now consists In weekly In
jcctions Of preparation which con-
sists of the mixed ethyl esters of the
acids of chaulmoogra oil, with 2 per
cent of iodine In chemical cOmbina-
ton. The amount used starts at one
cubic centimeter, and Is gradually In
creased to a maximum of four or five
cubic centimeters for adults"
Accessory treatments of iodine lipi-
ment, ointments and sun baths are en-
ployed as measures to improve the
general health and mental attitude Ut
the patients.
Doctors Mcdonald and Dean are OF
the opinion that leprosy Of the nerve
type, as we'll as the nodular cases,
should receive the new treatment.
ockonJchipn rnSnltS with
the nerve cases.
1--WE believe our remedies arrest the
disease" they say, regarding the nerve
cases, "and prevent further destruc-
ton of hands and fingers, even when,
as in long standing cases, normal fu2e-
ton cannot be fully restored.
During the last year we have done
better than simply arrest the destruc'
tive process; we have had the great
satisfaction Of seeing marked improve
ment In a considerable number OF
these purely nerval cases and appar-
emily complete recovery in others.
One young man who came In with a
decidedly ataxic gait, unable to raise
his body on his toes. and with one
hand so weak and deformed that he
had been compelled to abandon the
use of the typewriter year before en-
tering, so far improved before his
parole that his disability in walking
had not only disappeared, but he be-
came one of the leading tennis players
and one of the swiftest runners In the
compound.
i. Regains Use Of Hands.
"a woman with all fingers ADJ
sorbed to less than half their original
length, after q years treatment. be-
came able to write, to sew and knit
and to execute many movements and
functions of which she had for years
been deprived"
Regarding the virulent form Of lep-
rosy, the doctors report that sin many
cases the LESSONS disappear, except for
scars and permanent injuries, and the
leprosy bacillus can no longer be dern-
Onstrated."
In the continental United States
there are 200 known sufferers of lep-
rosy, but public health officials believe
! that ten times that number exist,
known only to the family doctor. The
Louisiana State Leper hospital at
Carville has been bought by the gov
eminent, and the public health service
plans to enlarge it so as TO provide
facilities for the treatment of 500 "a