CURING LEPROSY.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5303, 23 July 1928, Page 3

CURING LEPROSY.

A GREAT DISCOVERY. WORK IN PROGRESS. Formerly it was- thought that, leprosy could be cured by segregation,, but, it was soon found, particularly in India, that this method was scarcely feasible" owing to the enormous number of lepers (over 1,090,000) said the Rev. R. J. Grundy, when speaking at Wellington. recently on; , leprosy. “ Leprosy,” he, continued, “ is of three types. The anaesthetic type where certain portions of tile skin become susceptible to pain ; the popular type, where swellings and lupips break out all over the body ; and nerve leprosy, which is a very pa.inful form of disease often resulting in bl’-nidness. Mostof the lepers have" all these forms when they arrive at the- mission station.. Some walk, others have to crawl, or. are carried ‘on stretchers. Whilst leprosy does sometimes burn out of itself, it generally leaves the infected person very deformed .and helpless-.

DIAGNOSIS

“The first thing done now a lays is to take some blo'od from the patient and examine it -under a microscope'. Diagnosis has reached a pitch of considerable perfection. It is now po£r sible to diagnose cases before they have become infect'ouis. Furthermore, a cure is njow possible. Chalmougra, oil injected into the sufferer, isj definitely giving, cures. Already somie three hundred or four -hundred otherwise doomed people have been pronounced absolutely cured and free from the taint of this dreadful disease. Fortunately the tree from wih’eh the cure is compounded grows freely in, India, and is now being specially cultivated at. the leper missions. For gen,erations this tree was known to have a beneflc’al effect when applied externally. However, it is too na.usfeous and upsets the system if it is taken internally. Thanks, to Sir. Leonard Rogers methods of injection have been satisfactorily solved. Certain essential sodium salts are extracted from , the fruits of this tree" and used i.n the cure-. This has. only been in use for the last few years. THE CURE. . “The cur®- takes anything front eight months upwards. Ditet is very important, and the patients at the missions are encourage.d to take regular exercise. It has been found that the- harder the muscles the better the medicine is absorbed into the -system. So Swedish drill and other exercises are an important part of the cure", combined with a- very generous diet.” • •' NOT HEREDITARY. “Fortunately,” continued the Rev. Cr.undy, “leprosy is not here-dita.ry. Children' of leprous parents are not necessarily infected. The healthy children, are taken away from their parents to special 'homes, where they are taught trades. Their parents, although not allowed to touch them, can visi't them several times a week. Incidentally, the first money received for the healthy children’s homes at Allahabad came from New Zealand. Children who have the misfortune to contract the disease respond, very rea,dily to the -hew cure.

' “The successful treatment of this ghastly disease is (having, a tremendous effect in India to-day even, upon those who have not got the disease. Even Ghandee commen.ded. the work." The Rev. R. J. Grunty has spent 27 years in India, mostly qt the Mission to Lepers, where,.no less than 10,000' lepers are being treated to-day at 76 different homes. There is a total of 60 doctors administering the new cure.