Fight against leprosy

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33044, 11 October 1972, Page 16

Fight against leprosy

Prospects are now encouraging for the development of a vaccine against leprosy, according to Dr S. G. Browne, consultant adviser in leprosy to the British Government.

Dr Browne said in Christchurch yesterday that he was chary of making predictions because three years ago, on a previous visit to New Zealand, he had forecast the development of a vaccine within three or four years. Progress had been delayed because it had not been possible to culture the leprosy germ in a test tube and research workers had been limited to studying the growth of germs in the footpads of mice. .Only three weeks ago, however, a biochemist had obtained nine ounces of tissue heavily infected with leprosy germs and this would open up the

way to detailed biochemical analysis.

“This is a tremendous amount,” said Dr Browne. “Before, we only had quanities like 1/10,000 part of an ounce to work with.” Now, he said, it was necessary to find what part of the germ, when injected into a human being, would stimulate the development of antibodies which would either kill the germ when it entered the body or else prevent it from multiplying. Dr Browne said the leprosy germ was only 5/1000th of an inch long, “but when you look at it under an electron microscope you realise what

a complicated little beast it is.” He said the nine ounces of tissue had been obtained by sacrificing two armadillos. The armadillo had a low body temperature which encouraged the germ to multiply, and it had been found that germs injected into its veins or under its skin spread throughout the whole body.

“If the human race was as susceptible to leprosy as the armadillo, and if it was fatal as it is in the armadillo, the outlook would be black indeed,” he said. In the human, leprosy was chronic and non-fatal. In many cases it was self-heal-ing and self-limiting, and certainly it did not always lead to deformity. This is fortunate, since, according to Dr Browne, only about one leprosy sufferer in five receives medical treatment. There are not enough drugs or medical workers available to help the other four.

If diagnosed early enough the treatment of leprosy was usually successful, he said. If not, and particularly if it were the most severe form of the disease, leprosy could spread through the body.