* Taiwan Quick Take Nov 12, 2007
The sanatorium for sufferers of Hansen's Disease, also known as leprosy, was built under Japanese colonial rule in 1930 in Sinjhuang (s), Taipei County. The Taipei City and Taipei County governments are demolishing the facility to make way for the Xinzhuang MRT Line. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- World)
Isles to get $691M in funding Nov 4, 2007
State Department of Health, $2 million for continuing medical care and support of people with Hansen's disease in Kalaupapa and Honolulu. Honolulu Star-Bulletin. (Honolulu Star-Bulletin)
Religion news in brief Nov 2, 2007
More than 8,000 people were banished to the remote Kalaupapa peninsula on Molokai after leprosy, or Hansen's disease, became epidemic in Hawaii in the 1850s. Damien came to Hawaii from Belgium in 1864, and went to Kalaupapa nine years later, ministering to patients until he contracted Hansen's disease himself and died in 1889 at the age of 49. (Orangeburg Times and Democrat, SC)
Hawaii's 'leper priest' back on track to sainthood Oct 29, 2007
One hurdle has been cleared in the road to sainthood for Blessed Father Damien de Veuster, the "leper priest of Moloka'i" who eventually died from Hansen's disease. The cause for sainthood has been stalled since 2005, when a local tribunal reconvened to clear up whether a miracle could be attributed solely to prayers to Damien. (Honolulu Advertiser)
Father Damien moving closer to sainthood Oct 27, 2007
Father Damien DeVeuster, the Belgian priest who served Hansen's disease patients at Kalaupapa, Molokai, and later died of the disease, has moved closer to sainthood. A Vatican commission of five doctors scrutinizing a reported medical cure attributed to Damien has found that the woman's healing was dramatic and defied medical explanation, said Patrick Downes, Catholic Diocese of Honolulu spokesman. (Honolulu Star-Bulletin)
Hurdle cleared in path to Father Damien's sainthood Oct 26, 2007
The cause for sainthood had been stalled in 2005, when a local tribunal reconvened to clear up questions over whether a miracle truly belonged solely to prayers to Damien, who eventually had died of Hansen's disease. A communique from Rome issued last week by the order to which Father Damien belonged, said a miracle attributed to Damien passed a very important authority: a medical committee that decides if such events are indeed miraculous. (Honolulu Advertiser)
Conscientious objectors will get option of alternative duty Sep 18, 2007
The government is now reviewing nine public special care hospitals in remote areas to place the men, such as the Sorokdo National Hospital, a facility located in South Jeolla Province that treats Hansen's disease, along with about 200 nursing homes for the elderly. However, specifics of the draft plan will be reviewed and finalized after public hearings on the issue, officials said. (Korea Herald, Korea)
* Lo Sheng protesters hauled away Sep 13, 2007
Lo Sheng Sanatorium, located in Sinjhuang (s), Taipei County, was used to isolate thousands of people with Hansen's disease. A plan to tear down buildings at the sanatorium in order to build a Mass Rapid Transportation (MRT) maintenance depot has seen protests by Lo Sheng residents and preservationists over the past three years. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- Business)
* Bridge sparks fears on island leper colony Sep 12, 2007
Leprosy or Hansen's disease is a bacterial disease which can be cured with a sustained course of antibiotics, but can cause deformations if untreated. For the first five decades after its foundation in 1916, the island was a prison camp for victims forcibly ferried to it from all over Korea. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- Business)
Project memorializes Kalaupapa patients Sep 5, 2007
CRAIG T. KOJIMA / Researchers working at the State Archives are collecting names of about 8,000 people who contracted Hansen's disease between 1866 and 1969 and were sent to Kalaupapa, Molokai ... State archives list nearly 8,000 names of people who contracted Hansen's disease between 1866 and 1969 and were banished for life to the remote Molokai peninsula ... Think how many family members that involved," said Law, who is leading the research project. She is a founder and coordinator for an... (Honolulu Star-Bulletin)
Newswatch, Police/Fire Jul 29, 2007
He goes to Molokai weekly to care for patients with Hansen's disease. He shares his medical expertise with TV viewers as a volunteer for "Ask the Doctor" on KHON-2. (Honolulu Star-Bulletin)
* Lo Sheng fossils, artifacts must be saved: historian Jul 21, 2007
The Taipei County sanatorium is a sprawling complex built during the Japanese colonial era to isolate people suffering from Hansen's disease, also known as leprosy. Plans to tear down most of the sanatorium's buildings to make room for an MRT maintenance depot have met with strong opposition. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- World)
Kalaupapa resident William Malo was rights advocate Jul 18, 2007
A former sheriff of Kalaupapa and an international advocate for the human rights of Hansen's disease patients has died ... Malo lived on Oahu with his grandparents and was in the 11th grade at McKinley High School when his mother discovered he had Hansen's disease ... He was sent to the Hansen's disease settlement in Kalaupapa in 1940 and was later joined by his sister and three younger brothers, who also suffered from the illness. (Honolulu Star-Bulletin)
200 years of beauty: Parish's proud history shows in its architecture Jul 6, 2007
The Italianate classical revival architecture of the Gillis W. Long Hansen's Disease Center at Carville became the Carville Historic District in 1992. Today, the historic site has a museum on the history of the Hansen's Disease patients who lived there even as the staff helped develop the medical advances that allowed sufferers to be treated as out-patients, rather than isolated away from their families and the population at large. (Plaquemine Post South, LA)
Law eases visitor access to hunting Jun 7, 2007
Licenses are free for residents 65 or older or people with Hansen's disease who are residents of Kalaupapa, according to state law. Honolulu Star-Bulletin. (Honolulu Star-Bulletin)
* Activists decry decision on Losheng Jun 1, 2007
Located in Taipei County, the sanatorium is a sprawling complex built during the Japanese colonial era as an isolation unit for people suffering from Hansen's disease. A plan to tear down most of the buildings to make room for a mass rapid transit (MRT) maintenance depot has met with strong opposition. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- Business)
Infectious Disease Research Institute and Chembio to Develop Tests for Leishmaniasis and Leprosy May 31, 2007
ABOUT LEPROSY Leprosy, or Hansen's disease, is a chronic infectious disease caused by the intra-cellular pathogen Mycobacterium leprae -- a bacterium that is related to the organism that causes tuberculosis. The bacillus primarily grows within lesions in the cooler body areas such as the skin, limbs, eyes, and nasal cavity. (PR Newswire)
* Thousands back saving Losheng Sanatorium Apr 16, 2007
Losheng is a sanatorium in Taipei County completed in 1930 under Japanese colonial rule where thousands of people with Hansen's disease, or leprosy, have been secluded for life. Plans to tear down most of the buildings to make room for a Mass Rapid Transport (MRT) maintenance depot have sparked heated debate. (Taipei Times, Taiwan)
* Theater onthe move Apr 13, 2007
Taipei Times - archives. Enter your search terms. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- World)
Secure borders would deter spread of diseases Apr 8, 2007
There have only been 40 cases in the last 40 years in America of Hansen's disease, better known as leprosy. America has over 700 cases now. (Lodi News Sentinel, CA)
* Legal effort fails to halt closure of Lo Sheng Sanatorium Apr 5, 2007
The legislative effort to prevent mandatory eviction of Lo Sheng Sanatorium residents failed as cross-party negotiations on the Hansen's Disease Compensation Act (~fv) broke down yesterday. Located in Taipei County, Lo Sheng sanatorium is where thousands of people with Hansen's disease have lived since the facility's establishment, despite the low contagiousness of the disease. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- World)
* Lo Sheng controversy attracts the interestof international group Apr 4, 2007
The controversy over the preservation of Lo Sheng (Happy Life) Sanatorium has moved into the international limelight as a global advocacy group for people with Hansen's disease said it would report the case to the UN. ... Parlapiano made the remarks at a press conference hosted by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Joanna Lei (p) and a local group supporting the preservation of the 70-year-old sanatorium -- home to people with Hansen's disease ... The group represents more than 20,000 Hansen's... (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- World)
* Why Lo Sheng must be preserved Apr 1, 2007
The International Association for Integration, Dignity and Economic Advancement, a UN-related organization dedicated to promoting the rights of Hansen's disease patients, also believes that the sanatorium is part of a global heritage and has asked the Taiwanese government to protect it. In preserving these buildings, Taiwan would allow the residents to continue to live there instead of uprooting long-standing community networks in the name of modernization. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- World)
* Thousands protest saving sanatorium Apr 1, 2007
Sinjhuang is home to Lo Sheng Sanatorium, where thousands of people with Hansen's disease were once quarantined for life. A plan to tear down most of the buildings on the 17-hectare site to make room for a Mass Rapid Transportation (MRT) depot has met with strong opposition. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- World)
Miracles keep up with prayers for Rising Star Apr 1, 2007
Rising Star's works are primarily aimed at families affected by leprosy, or Hansen's Disease. Although there is a cure for the disease, leprosy patients and their children and grandchildren still frequently live in isolated colonies and are rejected by most of society. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
* Su apologizes for leprosarium debacle Mar 24, 2007
The Hansen's Disease compensation act (~fv), a proposed bill which would provide a legal basis for compensation to former quarantined leprosy sufferers and preservation of the leprosarium, is currently being negotiated by the legislature. "During party negotiations yesterday [Thursday], the clauses concerning compensation, on-site care and preservation [of Lo Sheng Sanatorium] were passed," Cheng said. (Taipei Times, Taiwan)
US health agency says hepatitis cases down sharply Mar 18, 2007
Handa, a Chinese charity that helps sufferers of leprosy, or Hansen's disease, believes one way to reduce stigma is to stop using words like "leper", a term loaded with age-old misconceptions. A team of four people -- have custom-made over 9,000 pairs of shoes and 359 prosthetic limbs since 2000 for people disabled by the disease and they travel around China's southern Guangdong province making prosthetic limbs and customised shoes for people left disabled by the disease. (Reuters AlertNet)
* Indie-music scene mobilizes with concert to protest land grab Mar 16, 2007
Following a policy originally instituted by the Japanese, people with leprosy, or Hansen's disease, were segregated by law until the 1980s, and Losheng became a self-sufficient community. In 1994, Taipei County sold the land on which the sanatorium stood to the TRTC for the construction of part of the Sinjhuang MRT line. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- World)
The island of sorrow for leprosy victims Feb 26, 2007
Leprosy is also called Hansen's disease, after Gerhard Hansen, the Norwegian doctor who in 1873 first identified the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae as the cause of the disease ... "The WHO hasn't viewed leprosy as a public health problem in South Korea. But former lepers are not still accepted as ordinary people here due to deformities the disease left on their bodies, though they completely recovered from it," said Chae Kyu-tae, chief of the Institute of Hansen's Disease, affiliated with... (Korea Herald, Korea)
Hospice movement leader aided the terminally ill Jan 30, 2007
She was assigned to Kalaupapa for seven years as nursing supervisor, overseeing the health program for Hansen's disease patients. After several years of work at Mercy Hospital in Auburn, N.Y., she returned to Hawaii in 1978 to start the first hospice program. (Honolulu Star-Bulletin)
* Couple donates home, NT$60m to charity Jan 8, 2007
In 1944, 25-year-old Ruth Brown, a trained nurse, became a missionary and left her home in Texas for China to work with people suffering from Hansen's disease, also known as leprosy ... Hansen's disease was so feared in Taiwan at the time that medical professionals who worked with patients suffering from the disease were often ostracized ... Huang Te-cheng (w), executive director of the Tainan YMCA Social Welfare Foundation, said that families with members suffering from Hansen's disease... (Taipei Times, Taiwan)
3 unique ways to see Hawaii Nov 29, 2006
com) and take the Kalaupapa trail's 26 switchbacks down 1,700 feet to a formerly forbidden colony of Hansen's disease (commonly known as leprosy) patients. A couple dozen people still live here in what is now a national historic park, and permits are required to visit. (Chicago Tribune)
Lingle won almost every area in state Nov 20, 2006
At the former Hansen's disease treatment peninsula of Kalaupapa, Lingle won 17 to 12. On Oahu, Lingle dominated in the GOP stronghold of East Honolulu, where she also won in 2002 and in 1998, when she unsuccessfully challenged Gov. Ben Cayetano. (Honolulu Star-Bulletin)
The storyteller's new book Nov 3, 2006
A Hansen's disease patient's new book tells what life was like quarantined in Kalaupapa ... Nalaielua, 80, is one of 33 remaining Hansen's disease patients who were sent to Kalaupapa before the quarantine was canceled in 1969 and still call the village home. (Honolulu Star-Bulletin)
What the Heck? Oct 30, 2006
Henry's Story: In 1936, when he was 10 years old, Henry Nalaielua was diagnosed with Hansen's disease, then called leprosy. He was ripped away from his family by the state Health Department and sent eventually to Kalaupapa. (Honolulu Star-Bulletin)
MSSI awarded $1.5M contract for nursing services Oct 15, 2006
Vienna-based MSSI, a provider of medical personnel and technology services to the government and businesses, says the three-year contract will support the National Hansen's disease program in Louisiana ... Those two facilities treat individuals with Hansen's disease, formerly known as leprosy. (Washington Business Journal, DC)
Olivia Robello Breitha, battled leprosy and public's perceptions Oct 14, 2006
Mrs. Breitha, a writer and an activist who advocated for the rights of people with leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease, died Sept. 28 of congestive heart failure at a care facility in Kalaupapa ... She wrote her autobiography to try and sensitize people to terminology so they wouldn't refer to people by labels that took away their identity and humanity," said Anwei Law, the international coordinator of IDEA, an advocacy and support organization for people with Hansen's disease. ``She was... (Boston Globe)
Olivia Breitha, 90; Wrote of Living With Leprosy Oct 8, 2006
For the rest of her life, Breitha not only battled the physical effects of the illness, also known as Hansen's disease, but waged an ongoing battle to reshape the public's perception of those with a malady that dates to ancient times ... "She wrote her autobiography to try and sensitize people to terminology, so they wouldn't refer to people by labels that took away their identity and humanity," said Anwei Law, international coordinator of Integration, Dignity and Economic Advancement, an... (Los Angeles Times)
FEATURE-Cured lepers still live in "colonies" in China Oct 2, 2006
Panyu is one of hundreds of "leprosy villages" in China, a legacy from the 1950s when very little was known about leprosy, or Hansen's disease. Mistaken as a very infectious or even incurable disease, those diagnosed with leprosy were exiled to remote villages and forgotten. (AlertNet)
Kalaupapa resident turned leprosy into forum for dignity Sep 30, 2006
Olivia Robello Breitha's story of exile and her advocacy for justice and dignity for Hansen's disease patients have enlightened generations of people about a disease that was feared and demonized for centuries. Breitha, 90, died yesterday in Kalaupapa, where she was sent in 1937, three years after she contracted Hansen's disease, also known as leprosy. (Honolulu Star-Bulletin)
[SOCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS]POSCO achieves culture of voluntary service Aug 17, 2006
The scope of their social service has also widened from neighboring communities to shelters for vagabonds in nearby cities of Gyeongju, Yeongchun and Hansen's disease patients in Shinae-ri, Yeongduk. "Sharing Saturday" has also helped encourage voluntary service in the region. (Korea Herald, Korea)
Seminar helps fight infectious disease Jul 30, 2006
A health seminar and free screenings for hepatitis B, hepatitis C, Hansen's disease and staph infection helped the homeless understand the importance of good hygiene. They also received safety kits with razors, nail clippers, toothbrushes, nail files, Band-Aids and alcohol wipes. (Honolulu Star-Bulletin)
Local chapel named for Mother Marianne Cope Jul 27, 2006
After arriving in the islands in 1883 and spending the next three decades caring for its ill, Cope like Father Damien, Hawai'i's other notable Roman Catholic figure on the way to sainthood made her way to Kalaupapa on Moloka'i, where Hansen's disease patients were being isolated ... Cope also opened a home for children of Hansen's disease patients on O'ahu and a hospital on Maui. (Honolulu Advertiser)
[EDITORIAL]Death of WHO chief May 23, 2006
The U.N. chief's tribute was reviewing Lee's career with the WHO which began with tackling Hansen's disease in the Pacific islands and culminated with a daring project, which he called "3 by 5," to ensure at least three million HIV/AIDS victims had the medicines they needed by the end of 2005, and universal access to treatment by 2010. His conviction was that no one in this world should die because they cannot get drugs. (Korea Herald, Korea)
Free hepatitis screens, health fair in Waipahu tomorrow May 6, 2006
The fair will include entertainment and speakers on other health concerns thatare prevalent within the Filipino community, including high blood pressure, diabetes, tuberculosis, kidney disease, Hansen's disease, mental health issues, sexually transmitted diseases, HIV, cancer, and tobacco and drug use. Physicians will also be available to meet with families individually. (Honolulu Advertiser)
2 Sufferers of Hansen's Disease to Get Compensation From Japan May 1, 2006
The Korea Times : Two Suffers of Hansen's Disease to Get Compensation From Japan. . (Korea Times, South Korea)
OUTDOORS STUDY: 1 in 6 armadillos has leprosy Apr 27, 2006
The National Hansen's Disease Registry shows that about a third of all leprosy patients had contact with armadillos. The study however also details that two case-control studies comparing the armadillo contact history reported by U.S. leprosy patients presenting from areas known to harbor either high or low rates of armadillo leprosy, failed to show that direct contact with armadillos was an important risk factor for infection. (Orange Leader, TX)
A Year With Frances Mayes Apr 20, 2006
But Tayman's detailed history lays bare the racial politics and medical ignorance that ensnared victims of Hansen's disease, as leprosy is now called, for decades on the remote, rough spit of land at Kalaupapa. Now the island's best-known tourist attraction, the colony created a few saints, such as Father Damien, the Belgian priest who died among those he served, and far, far more sinners of bureaucratic omission and commission. (San Francisco Chronicle -- Travel)
Pope urges world leadersto fight against poverty Jan 30, 2006
From his studio window overlooking the square, Benedict offered a special greeting to those who suffer from leprosy, a disfiguring condition also known as Hansen's disease that affects hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. Noting that Sunday was World Day of Leprosy sufferers, the pontiff encouraged missionaries, health care personnel and volunteers to work against the scourge. (Billings Gazette, MT)
Blessed nun's feast day celebrated at Kalaupapa Jan 24, 2006
Breitha was diagnosed with Hansen's disease in 1934, when quarantine laws were still in effect, and chose to live her life out at Kalaupapa, which she now considers home ... "They aren't just history. We're not history yet. We're still alive," said Breitha, who told her story in a book, "Olivia: My Life in Exile in Kalaupapa." She is one of 28 remaining former Hansen's disease patients who chose to live in Kalaupapa although the quarantine ended in 1967. (Honolulu Star-Bulletin)
