Medicine: Lepers Take Hopo

Leprosy, the earth's most chronic disease, is so old that mankind has learned to fear it with a neurotic fear.* The world's 3,000,000 lepers are not alone in wanting to find a cure.

Last week a tiny ray of hope came from the National Leprosarium at Carville, La. which has been trying out Promin, one of the first sulfa drugs used against tuberculosis (the germs of the two diseases are much alike). In three years 32,000 daily injections were given to 137 leper volunteers. Result: 58% improved. In 10% of those treated over a year, leprosy bacteria disappeared; in another 30%, bacteria...