LEPER ATTENDANTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18080, 3 May 1922, Page 8

LEPER ATTENDANTS.

» PRESENCE IN CHURCH. I RESIDENTS FEAR INFECTION] HEALTH OFFICER'S ASSURANCE. ' [BY TELEGRAPH. — correspondent.] CHRISTCHURCH. Tuesday. Tho action of a number of attendants at the leper station on Quail Island in regularly attending church services at Charteris Bay lias occasioned a certain amount of alarm among the residents of the bay. They feel they aro being needlessly exposed to the danger of contracting tho dreaded disease, and it is stated that for this reason some residents do not attend the services. Tho matter was brought to the notice of Dr. Telford, medical officer of health, to-day, and ho was asked if there wcro any grounds for alarm. " There is not tho slightest occasion , for any alarm to bo expressed," he replied. Tho degree of inieclivity with leprosy was comparatively slight, and it was only by contact that tho disease was likely to be contracted. Tuberculosis, on tho other hand, was a much more contagious disease, and if it was as rare as leprosy tho same precautions would be taken to prevent its spread as were now taken with leprosy. As for the attendants going to church services, he did not think there was any need for him to object to such action. With leprosy there was no such as a " carrier." A person either had tho disease or did not have it, and attendants did not como into personal contact with tho patients. It should be explained that the lepers live on a separate part of the island from the attendants, and arc divided by a. wire fence. Tho lepers have their own dishes, and when requiring food simply bring these dishes to the fence and food is placed in them. The patients and attendants seldom get nearer to each other than, a distance of about 12ft. TEEATMENT OF DISEASE. SOUTH AFRICAN METHODS. Tho treatment of leper 3 was discussed yesterday by Dr. E. Slack, medical officer in charge of the leper station in Basutoland. South Africa, who arrived from Sydney by the Moeraki. Dr. Slack is a through passenger to Honolulu, where ho will investigate the conditions and treatment of lepers. He said that the treatment of cases at his station had been successful, and they had to a considerable degree arrested the disease. "We do not claim to cure it," he said, • " but wo can' say definitely that we have had a number of successes. Last year no fewer than 15 cases had reached the stage where they could be said to be on the road to recovery and freedom once more. There were a total of 500 patients at the station, all of whom were natives, and it was hoped l in the near future by the aid of the most scientific treatment of the disease to reduce tho number of cases in the South African Union."