The First International Leprosy Conference, Berlin, 1897: the politics of segregation

Abstract

The present paper examines the first attempts to internationalise the problem of leprosy, a subject hitherto overlooked by historians of imperialism and disease. The last decade of the nineteenth century saw many in the 'civilised countries' of the imperialist West gripped by a paranoia about an invasion of leprosy via germ-laden immigrants and returning expatriates who had acquired the infection in leprosy-endemic colonial possessions. Such alarmists clamoured for the adoption of vigorous leper segregation policies in such colonies. But the contagiousness of leprosy did not go unquestioned by other westerners. The convocation in Berlin of the first international meeting on leprosy revealed the interplay of differing and sometimes incompatible views about the containment of leprosy by segregation. The roles of officials from several countries, as well as the roles of five protagonists (Albert Ashmead, Jules Goldschmidt, Edvard Ehlers, Armauer Hansen, and Phineas Abraham) in the shaping of the Berlin Conference are here examined.

Lepra: doença, isolamento e segregação no contexto colonial em Moçambique

“…Nonetheless, the practice of absolute isolation observed in colonial settings, especially in Hawaii (Obregón Torres, 2002, p.138-158;Benchimol, Sá, 2004, p.35-116), 12 made the subject controversial. The medical world was split (Pandya, 2003). What divided it were different positions about the transmission methods.…”

O Hospital-Colónia Rovisco Pais: a última leprosaria portuguesa e os universos contingentes da experiência e da memória

“…The Hospital-Colónia Rovisco Pais majority vote, acclaimed Hansen's theory of the contagion and the proficiency of the 'Norwegian model' in combating leprosy (Pandya, 2003). This model, which had been structured in Norway under Hansen's influence and officialized in the acts of 1877 and 1885 that ordered the domicile or hospital isolation of those having Hansen's disease (Gould, 2005), seemed to explain the decline of the disease in that country.…”

“…This model, which had been structured in Norway under Hansen's influence and officialized in the acts of 1877 and 1885 that ordered the domicile or hospital isolation of those having Hansen's disease (Gould, 2005), seemed to explain the decline of the disease in that country. The Conference resulted in a set of resolutions that indicated registration, control and compulsory isolation of those having leprosy as urgent prophylactic measures to be taken by the governments of western countries (Pandya, 2003). Thereafter, the forefront of the fight against leprosy would be the responsibility of the medical profession.…”

“…6 In effect, at the end of the 19th century, leprosy was considered an 'imperial threat' (Gould, 2005), due to population mobility. The death of Padre Damião, of Belgian origin, after he contracted the disease in the Molokai colony in Hawaii, was a determinant in the reappearance of the specter of leprosy and the medieval leper in the western imagination (Pandya, 2003;Gould, 2005).…”

Leprosy and its Chemotherapy

“…1 É uma doença infectocontagiosa com evolução lenta e de baixo poder patogênico, causada pelo bacilo Mycobacterium leprae (M. leprae). O diagnóstico da doença pode ser realizado por baciloscopia, biópsia do nervo e através da reação de Mitsuda, entre outras formas de exames.…”