CURE FOR LEPROSY.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 May 1922, Page 11

CURE FOR LEPROSY.

GOOD PROSPECT OF STOPPING JHE DISEASE. SOUTH AFRICAN DOCTOR’S VIEWS. Among visitors to Auckland recently was Dr. E. Slack, medical officer at the leper asylum near Maseru, in Basutoland, South Africa, who is on his way t.o Honolulu to study the latest measures adopted by the American Government to cope with leprosy. Dr. Slack, in discussing the matter with an Auckland reporter, said that in the asylum which he controlled there were 500 ’ lepers, and all were natives. There were other leper stations at Pretoria and Robin Island, off Capetown. Leprosy Was caused by bacilli, just the same as consumption, and no one knew how it spread. The period of incubation was extremely long, and it took a very long time for the disease to be transmitted from one person to another. In the same way as people contracted consumption persons were susceptible to leprosy. Children, however, did not get it until after a certain age, but he had not seen anyone who was born with it.

It was claimed by the Americans that they had made a great success of their treatment at Honolulu, and though he had recently been trying the same method it was too early in the cases under his charge to judge as to the results. Therefore, he was visiting Honolulu to gain first-hand information on the subject. With another new treatment that was being tried in South Africa the results were improving yearly. At one time hardly anyone used to get out of these asylums, but now they were arresting the disease the same way as they talked of “arrested cases” in connection with consumption. They might get a person in whom the tubercle had been arrested altogether for life. Dr. Slack further stated that he thought there was a good prospect of stopping the disease or bringing it to an end, especially if it were dealt with early. In cases where the disease had been in existence for some time it was hardly fair to any treatment to expect a cure and the work was made doubly difficult when consumption was also present, as in some cases that had come under his notice. Leprosy had no respect -for climate, and was to be found in the tropics or in the far north. In Norway it was very bad at one time, also in parts of Russia, So had not much to do witjh