Leprosy in Australia.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7186, 10 June 1891, Page 4

Leprosy in Australia.

The report on leprosy laid before the New South Waleß Parliament recently reminds us {Sydney Morning \Hcrahl) of the unpleasant fact that this scourge of Oriental races has a footing, albeit at present but a limited footing, in the Colony. The total number of lepers under control and care to date has been twenty-five, with two additional cases known to have resulted in death. Of these twenty - five cases, including Chinese, Javanese, and negroes, seven sufferers are of European parentage, and natives of New South Wales. Ib is this fact that lends a grave aspect to the subject, for in the3e cases the disease was clearly contracted in tho Colony, and could not be Eaid, as in the case of the aliens, to have been brought in germ in the persona of the patients from other places in which the malady is prevalent. Indeed in all the ca&es, even of the Chinese, the disease appears to have developed in the Colony, although the Beeds may have been' imported in the bodies of the patients ; but in the case of the lepers of European parentage, we have impressed on us 'the forbidding truth that unless stringent care is taken, our people are exposed to contracting a malady admittedly incurable, and probably the most loathsome of all the lingering diseases with which man can be afflicted.