New Light on Leprosy
By “Awake!” correspondent in Trinidad
“UNCLEAN! UNCLEAN!” Down through the millenniums of time this distressing cry has echoed from many throats and in many lands. It has been the cry of the hopeless ones, the afflicted ones, the outcasts from society. It has been the heraldic cry of the leper. This chilling warning has usually produced an immediate response, not one of pity or compassion but, in the majority of instances, one of revulsion and a desire immediately to move away from the afflicted one.
At one time in England a leper was declared officially dead, and all his belongings were seized. In other lands, a leper’s home might be burned, while he was forced to get out of the community. Even today the general attitude toward leprosy is one of fear, mystery and ignorance. In one Far Eastern country, doctors observe that some 90 percent of those who are successfully treated still choose to stay in the settlement because of public ostracism. The expression “leprosy”’ causes such an odium in the minds of the public in general that the disease is now known by a more acceptable name, Hansen’s disease.
However, there is an ever-widening circle of informed persons, principally medical and professional social workers, as well as patients, who now look upon the affliction as being no more odious than any other disease and one that need not prevent a victim from leading a useful and satisfying life. Those who use the Bible as their authority and guide in life feel true sympathy for sufferers of this disease. They know that it is no direct curse from God but is one of many manifestations of human imperfection resulting from the disobedience of the first man, Adam.—John 9:1-3; Rom. 5:12.
Effects and Extent of the Disease
Leprosy, or Hansen’s disease, is widespread throughout the earth. It is found in all the countries of North and South America except Chile. There are a total of some 400,000 cases in the Americas, with about 13,000,000 cases throughout the earth. Many more doctors and facilities than now exist are needed to bring the disease under control, although drugs and treatment are now available that could effect a much greater control.
Do you ever wonder if you might have the disease? Do you know of someone who has symptoms that might suggest having contracted it? Then, by all means, arrangements for an accurate diagnosis should be made as soon as possible.
What are the early clinical features of Hansen’s disease? There might be flat discolorations or pale patches in the skin. While leprosy may not be the reason for such patches, the layman should let his medical adviser examine them. Areas on the skin insensitive to touch or pain should also be investigated. Areas devoid of hair should be regarded with suspicion. Nodules under the skin are often early evidences of leprosy and merit further investigation. If examination shows that one does not have the disease, this will provide welcome relief from mental anxiety and stress. If there is evidence of the disease, early treatment holds a better possibility of a cure, with little or no disfigurement.
Progress in Knowledge and Treatment
Much has been found out about Hansen’s disease. One of the outstanding discoveries is that the affliction is communicable only to a minor degree. Efforts to infect volunteers have repeatedly failed, and very rarely do workers handling leprosy cases contract the disease. Out of 100 persons who had close contact with an open case of leprosy over a five-year period, only about three became infected. Also, the healthy marriage partner hardly ever gets it from the afflicted spouse. Leprologists point out that susceptibility to Hansen’s disease is much greater in infants and young children than in adults. For this reason newborn babes are taken from parents who are afflicted and given to relatives to rear or are brought up in institutions.
For many decades the principal treatment for the disease consisted of the use of chaulmoogra oil, which was applied to the afflicted parts or taken orally. But this was not very successful in arresting the condition. The patient was taken to an isolated settlement or a hospital and forced to remain there until such time as the disease became static or death ensued. This could mean remaining there for many years. In Trinidad, the government set up a hospital on a separate island, where all known cases were taken and kept in wards or chalets. To visit the place was most depressing. Fear of being sent there kept many from seeking medical aid.
Then, in 1941, the sulfone drugs were introduced, and with them came a new outlook on life for sufferers and much brighter prospects of arresting the disease or even curing it, Provided that treatment is carried out early enough and persistently for a period of three to ten years or longer, the chances of arrest and cure are good. Additionally, a person being treated loses his mild infectivity gradually.
Other drugs are also being used. Thalidomide, once used as a tranquilizer and that caused deformities in babies whose mothers had taken it during pregnancy, is now employed to control acute reactions in male lepers under intensive treatment. Rifampicin, an antibiotic active against tuberculosis, has also been employed in the treatment of leprosy. This drug acts more quickly than the sulfone drugs and has been used in Malaysia for the treatment of persons resistant to the sulfones.
Present Attitudes and Services
Due to the successes experienced with various drugs and a better understanding of the disease itself, it is no longer compulsory to remain isolated in an institution. In Trinidad, the policy of compulsory confinement was reversed some years ago. Patients could come and go as they wished, mingling with the public. There was some objection to this at first, but, since no epidemic of Hansen’s disease broke out, objections have been silenced. Persons who remain in the institution usually are suffering from advanced stages of the disease that was contracted before the introduction of the new drugs for treating the affliction. The changed attitude toward the disease has made life much happier for those who have it. As a result, people have been more ready to get their case diagnosed.
There are auxiliary services associated with the treatment of the disease. Special shoemakers are employed to fit footwear. It is important that shoes be comfortable and inflict the minimum of damage to feet, often ulcerated and insensitive to pain. Physiotherapists are employed to exercise affected fingers, toes and limbs. This serves to arrest deformity and to rehabilitate afflicted joints. Special orthopedic surgeons are called in to attend to the complicated deformities of limbs. Eye surgeons are engaged to correct eyelids and eye muscles that have become defective. Plastic surgeons can do much toward overcoming facial deformities. Contact tracers (social workers) are employed to look for new cases and to bring in for treatment persons who have neglected their needs. The Trinidad and Tobago Leprosy Relief Association caters to the social needs of the patients. It attends to their housing, procures jobs for them and otherwise helps them with multitudinous problems, for example, caring for the education of their children.
Experience of Patients
New light on leprosy certainly has made the prospects and the lot of one contracting Hansen’s disease better and happier. No longer do informed persons move away from his presence as from one having a plague. Moreover, his future is judged not hopeless and he is not relegated to the fringes of society. He, too, can receive beneficial medical treatment and assistance comparable to that available to persons suffering from other maladies. Along with other humans, he can live a normal, integrated life. If he chooses to do so, he can take in knowledge of the Great Physician, Jehovah God, who will permanently heal all our diseases, doing so by means of his Kingdom in the hands of his Son Jesus Christ.—Rev. 21:4, 5.