Lepers Made Whole

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 715, 15 July 1929, Page 8

Lepers Made Whole

Complete Cures from Makogai

CLEANSED and restored to their places in society by the healing touch of Science, six Earotongan natives will leave Auckland this evening on the last stage of their homeward journey after treatment at the leper station at Makogai. In the hands of eminent scientists, leprosy is fast coming within the grasp of medical service, and recent results have inspired the self-sacrificing mission workers with a new hope of widespread success.

Human ear is attuned to no more revolting cry than the unmistakable warning of the confirmed leper: “Uiv clean! Unclean.” The leper always has been the melancholy figure of history, and an outcast of society. But today there is a brighter dawn showing upon this horizon of gloom, due largely to the heroic and self-sacrificing work which has been pursued with vigilance and consistency in the South Sea Islands, where this mysterious disease has been successfully attacked. No mole eloquent illustration of this result is to be found than the six native Rarotongans—five women and a boy—who arrived in Auckland by the Tofua last week on their way to their home icland after having been completely cured of leprosy at Makogai, near Suva, in the Fiji group. They leave this evening by train for Wellington, there to pick up the steamer for Raratonga. Their cures cover life in its many phases, for the women range in age from 50 years down to 16, and the boy is 12 years of age. WORLD-WIDE WORK Until recent years the mysterious disease of leprosy has baffled all human effort to determine its cause or to find a cure. The malady is found in almost every country—fortunately rarely in New Zealand —but chiefly in Asia, Africa and the northern countries of South America. There are still many lepers in the Philippines and islands of the group, and in the Hawaiian Islands,' though in the island possessions of the United States, the disease is shown to be on the decrease. In Siberia, as well as in Norway and Iceland also, there are many lepers, revealing its spread in cold as well as warm climates. It is difficult even to estimate the number of lepers in the world, but investigators consider that there are about 3,000,000, of whom 300,000 are in the British Empire. China, Japan and Tropical Africa stand high upon this calendar of disease. It w r as not until 1874 that the bacillus of leprosy was discovered, but since this remarkable scientific achievement by Armauer Hansen, increased attention to its ramifications has led to valuable and encouraging results. A vegetable oil, known as

Cliaulmoogra oil, forms the bafeis of most leprosy treatment, and in its application among the lepers in the South Seas, a wonderful service has been effected in restoring complete health to people who had already resigned themselves to its living death. The disease itself is revolting in its advanced manifestations. In some instances it is not apparent until fairly well developed, but in its final stages is horrible in its effect upon the human frame. For years the Mission to Lepers has concentrated its attention upon the wasting forms of the South Seas natives. All denominations of religion have taken their part, the Roman Catholic Sisters working side by side with the members of other sects —all engaged in the common two-fold object of restoring the natives to physical health and conveying to them also a gleam of spiritual knowledge. They are separate, yet their ultimate work is the same. CURES AT MAKOGAI In Makogai is to be seen the result of the leper mission workers in the South Seas, where incidentally people from New Zealand have been taken and treated at different times, and where there are now from 400 to 500 patients in all. The treatment of a leper never lasts under six months and sometimes extends over six years. If a case is diagnosed early enough and treated properly, there is every chance, according to an eminent medical authority, of completely arresting the disease, and, provided the patient keeps healthy, there should be no recurrence. Auckland today sees before its eyes the results of this treatment. Six people completely cured of the malady which from time immemorial has struck terror to the hearts of men. These are but a few of the cures. The hooded gown and the wooden clapper of the Western European leper of the Middle Ages is nigh forgotten. Patients are now returning to their homes in various parts of the Pacific Islands, made whole by the miracle of science, w T hile the mission workers themselves are radiant 'with a new hope, for they see in the not far distant future the day when the dread malady of leprosy will be completely under human medical control.