European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 28, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                When the Lep Rosarium at Carville was founded 100 years ago has been proven wrong. There is no question that left untreated leprosy or Hansen s disease is terrible. It can destroy sight collapse the nose and Lead to ulcers infection and the loss of. Fingers and toes. But that is Only if the disease is untreated. It can be cured in a relatively Short time with Multi drug therapy although people who have lost feeling in their hands or feet must keep Alert to avoid infection. And it is far from the rapidly spreading Scourge implied by the biblical prescriptions. It is one of the least contagious diseases known. None of the doctors or employees at the Civilis w. Long Hansen s disease Center in Carville has Ever caught it. None. Ever. The world health organization estimates that in 1983 there were 12 million cases worldwide with 600,000 new cases diagnosed each year. In the last 10 years More than 4 million have been cured. But Only a third of those needing treatment get it. India Indonesia and Burma account for 70 percent of All cases. Africa is the second most affected area. Brazil and Colombia account for 80 percent of All cases in latin America. Egypt Iran Pakistan the Sudan the Philippines and Vietnam Are among other countries where the world health organization describes leprosy As highly endemic. With $420 million who figure that it could reduce the number of cases to 1 per 10,000 people worldwide by the year 2000. That would eliminate it As a threat to Public health the organization says. Not everyone agrees with who s predictions. Quot Prophesy is a dangerous game in biology or. Paul. Brand whose specially is repairing damage from Hansen s disease said in his keynote address to the 14th International leprosy Congress last August in Orlando Fra a forty years ago he noted the Success of Bulfone drugs. In suppressing symptoms prompted predictions that the disease would be eliminated in a  As recently As 1983, the Best known treatment Wasa lifelong course of the Bulfone called Dapson introduced in 1941 at Carville. However doctors Learned that mycobacterium Lewrae often become resistant to Dapson if it is used alone. A combination of drugs turned out to be much More effective at today s Carville the White columned Manor House holds administrative offices for the world s Foremost Hospital and research Center for Hansen s disease now the preferred term for leprosy. The Center has been part of the Public health service since 1921, and celebrates its Centennial this year. The Hospital is now largely a nursing Home. As a visitor a passes through two old women in wheelchairs Are in the ? lobby. One has soc like bandages on both hands. The a other woman has one bandaged hand. Repeated a i infections have reduced the fingers on her other hand to stubs. They Are among 28 patients in the infirmary. An additional 20 people live in 10 tidy cottages on this 300-acre estate shaded by Oaks that were old even when the first patients arrived. The rest live in dormitory. Apartments. Those whose feet cannot handle much walking ride bicycles and adult tricycles through the Long corridors Between buildings honking horns or ringing Bells at intersections in Case one of the Blind residents is coming the other Way. This is where in 1941 the first effective drug was found of the sul Fones the Quot Miracle at Carville Quot celebrated in a j Book and movie. It s where doctors experimented 30 years later with the Multi drug therapy that the world health organization says could eliminate Hansen s disease As a Public health threat by the turn of the Century. Day june 28, 1994 this photograph of father Damien was taken a few weeks before his death from leprosy in March 1889.blessed Damien of Molokai by Greg Small the associated press a he legacy of father Damien lives on and the. To priest is revered today much As when he a ministered to leprosy patients in Hawaii Mote a a than a Century ago. ? \. Despite the passage of time Damien j remains a Well known figure in i Hawaii. A f \ statue of the holy Man of Molokai Island ? showing his face ravaged by leprosy is l prominently displayed outside the state Capitol. An identical statue was unveiled in 1969 at the National statuary flail in Washington . Damien the belgian priest who was a godsend to those suffering from leprosy reached the second plateau on the Way to sainthood last May during a beatification ceremony Pope John Paul ii conducted in Brussels. A because of the beatification service the priest who spent the last 16 years of his life Labouring among outcasts now is known As Quot blessed Damien of Molokai servant of  Damien s Road to sainthood began july 7, 1977, when Pope Paul i declared him Quot venerable Quot or worthy of veneration by the faithful. Word that Damien would be beatified came in 1992, after the Vatican confirmed the miraculous cure of a dying French nun who prayed to a picture of Damien in 1895. A second confirmed Miracle is needed before the final step to sainthood. The introduction of Bulfone drugs in the 1950s brought leprosy to Bay and in 1969 patients at the Molokai a settlement were Given the option of staying or leaving according to settlement administrator Mike Mccarten. The settlement which became Kalaupapa National historical Park in 1980, is now Home to 00 patients who average around 70 years of age he said. Born Joseph de Seuster in Tremelon Belgium on Jan. 3, 1840, he took the name Damien when he joined the congregation of the sacred hearts of Jesus and Mary in 1859. Damien was still a religious brother when he arrived in Hawaii on March 19, 186-1, to replace his ailing missionary brother Pampli Ile. Two months later Damien was ordained a priest at our lady of peace Cathedral in Honolulu. 1 Lis first assignment As a priest was to work on Hawaii Island. Damien first set foot on Kalaupapa on May 10, 1873, he had volunteered to work at the settlement for a few weeks but wound us spending the rest of his life there. Kalaupapa is located on an isolated Peninsula surrounded on three sides by the Pacific Ocean. The fourth Side is an imposing 2,000-foot-High Cliff which prevented leprosy patients from reaching the rest of the Island Damien Laboured to meet the physical As Well As spiritual needs of his unique flock. He nursed the sick and buried the dead while building houses orphanages hospitals and churches. Eleven years after his arrival Damien discovered he had contracted leprosy. He died april 15, 1889, and was buried at St. Fhilomena s Mission Church in Kalaupapa. However his remains were later claimed by Belgium and in 1936 he was reburied at Louvain where he first entered the congregation of the sacred i hearts. The stars and stripes 17