Leprosy affects 12 million

Press, 9 June 1982, Page 19

Leprosy affects 12 million

Leprosy, no longer the dreaded contagion it was considered in biblical times, is still a disease that affects about 12 million people around the world. Attempts to prevent and treat it have been beset by problems. The bacillus cannot be totally eliminated by drugs and it is impossible to grow it in the laboratory to produce a vaccine. One animal in which the bacillus will grow, however. is the nine-banded armadillo. The 8.8. C. science programme (concert programme, 7.30 tonight) tells about a trial vaccine produced from the armadillo which seems to offer not only protection but also a useful supplement to the treatment of leprosy. Another medical topic dealt with is that of synthetic bone that mimics the'natural properties of real bone, and its potential in the repair of

fractures. From the sphere of astronomy there are stars which through nuclear reactions may have turned to iron and there is an item about the possible use of artifical enzymes to de-toxify soils that have been treated with pesticides. Nuclear weapons On the concert programme at 8.30 tonight. Professor LawTence Martin completes his series of 1981 8.8. C. Reith Lectures in which he argues for the retention of nuclear weapons while the search for genuine and lasting arms control continues. Though pessimistic about it, he believes that the only long term answer to the preponderance of Soviet power in Europe is greater Western European unity and self-reli-ance in defence matters.