GIRL WITH LEPROSY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19779, 28 October 1927, Page 14

GIRL WITH LEPROSY.

CASE IN MELBOURNE. AN ABORIGINAL HOUSEMAID. FAMILY RECEIVES A SCARE. [from our own correspondent. ] SYDNEY, Oct. 14. A family living in the Melbourne suburb of Prahran received a scare recently when it was found that an aboriginal girl, who had been living in their home for four years, was suffering from leprosy. The girl is a native of the Northern Territory, about 14 years of age. She was sent down by an official in the north to his wife about four years ago, and she has been working in the house as a maid. Recently her case was reported to the Government health officer at Prahran as being possibly one of leprosy. She was examined by him and other State health officials, who diagonised the disease as leprosy. That diagnosis was confirmed by a report of bacteriologists at the Commonwealth laboratories.

It is presumed that the girl contracted the disease in the Northern Territory, where she was probably in contact with lepers. No member of tho Melbourne household haa been infected, according to the health authorities. The girl has been isolated, and negotiations are taking place for her removal to another State, where, it is expected, she will bo cured.

Medical officers attached to the Victorian Health Department asserted that leprosy is not nearly so infectious as people suppose, certainly not as infectious a diphtheria or tuberculosis. The prevalent horror of the disease, they stated, is largely due to its Biblical associations, but cases in which tho disease is so bad as to cause loss of members are rare. The period of incubation of the germ is seven years, and as the giH in the Prahran case has probably not had it more than four years, her chances of cure are good. Most cases of leprosy that have been detected in Victoria come from overseas. The last one occurred four years ago in a Chinese.