Leprosy in China.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 456, 22 March 1890, Page 6

Leprosy in China.

In connection with a medical investigation undertaken in Hongkong, into the sources and amount of leprosy in that colony, a series of questions were put to the doctors of the principal local Chinese chari, table institution, the Tung Wah Hospitalas to the prevalence and treatment of the disease in China. From the answers, it appears that eight varieties are recognised, and that the disease is regarded as contagious, infectious and hereditary. It is said to disappear in four generations. The populace dread it so much that they would not allow a leper, ‘even if the son of rich parents,’ to remain in their neighbourhood. No district is specially notorious for the disease, which is attributed by the faculty to ‘an excess of moisture in the phlegm.’ It is regarded as incurable, and is treated by attempting ‘ to drive the leprous matter to one part of the body, so as to save the rest.’ The Tung Wah Hospital refuses to receive any leprous patients, but there is provision in Hongkong for sending them back to the leper village outside Canton. All lepers in China are compelled by the authorities to go to these villages, where they receive an allowance and have some land to till. The native doctors advise that no leper home should be established in Hongkong, as it would only lead to an influx of lepers from the mainland,—London ‘ Times,’ January 14th.