Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Leprosy Concerns



I am offering a letter today, written by someone to state board of health. The mother of the child is the writer's concern. Try to imagine having leprosy. What is it anyway?

The state board of health answered the concern. I am NOT changing the letter but printing it in its entirety.

Co. My Dear Siri-
I h&ve Just returned to uv offioe after b. week's abseiy:e on business.
In reply tq your letter of August £rd, permit me to thanJt you for th« lafonafttion.lt oont&ins. we have & record of the leper you refer to. Th* woman is very careful *nd there is no reason why her life should be made any more unbearable than It is fron the disease. Her ohildren are unaffeoted and there is no danger to other pupils in sobool because of the attendance of these children. Lepers are not Isolated In this State because so lone as the lepers are careful, there is no danger of spreading the disease. Our climate and mode of living art not favorable to this disease. Although we have records of proba­bly forty oases In (this State during the past ten years, there has not been a single American born leper among them. Several of these forty have ohildren and these ohildren are good and useful oitltens, soioe of them in prominent positions. The ohildren of the leper referred to have & perfeot right.*In your publio school, and I trust you win use your influvno* to r«aoy* all prajudlo* against this unfortunate. Foor woman, she will 4o no barn to any one.


Leprosy is an infectious disease that has been known since biblical times. It is characterized by disfiguring skin sores. Leprosy is caused by the organism Mycobacterium leprae. It is not very contagious (difficult to transmit) and has a long incubation period (time before symptoms appear), which makes it difficult to determine where or when the disease was contracted. It is also known as Hanson's Disease.


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