United States of America

In 1921, the U.S. Public Health Service established the nation’s first leprosarium, located in Carville, Louisiana. The leprosarium served as an institution for persons with leprosy, a hospital for experiments with treatments for leprosy as well as a laboratory to study the organism. The center, which became known simply as “Carville,” became a refuge for leprosy patients and one of the premier centers of scientific research and testing in attempts to find a cure for Hansen’s Disease.

In 1941, the discovery of Promin, a sulfone drug, was shown to successfully cure leprosy, but this treatment also involved painful injections. Promin became known as the “Miracle of Carville.” In the 1950s Dapsone pills, pioneered by Dr. R.G. Cochrane at Carville, became the treatment of choice for leprosy. Dapsone worked wonderfully at first, but M. leprae eventually began developing dapsone resistance. Eventually MDT was discovered and is now used as an effective cure for leprosy.

In 1981, eleven community health programs were started across the US in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Puerto Rico, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Texas and Hawaii.  Services provided include: diagnosis, treatment, follow-up, contact monitoring, disability prevention, education (professional, patient, public), maintenance of referral system for Hansen's disease health care services and maintenance of Hansen's disease registry and database.

In 1986, the Carville facility became known Gillis W. Long Hansen’s Disease (Leprosy) Center, named after the distinguished United States Congressman, close friend and associate of the people working and living with leprosy. During its century of service, Carville was home to several hundreds of patients, some of whom met and married there and spent a majority of their lives there. When Carville closed in 1998, some residents of Carville chose to stay. They had been there so long – a lifetime almost - it had become their home. In 1992, Carville Historic District was placed on the National Register of Historic Places by the National Parks Service. 

Today Carville houses a museum that commemorates all those who lived at the leprosarium and their health carers and doctors. Visit the National Hansen’s Disease Museum website

Of Further Interest

Journey from the Dark:
Leprosy in Spain and the United States in the 19^th and 20^th Centuries: the Norwegian Connection
by Kirsten Lolita Milnes
http://www.bodoni.no/bodoni/Bodoni-Forlag/Aktuelle-bøker/Journey-from-the-Dark 

Resources

The Star

The Star newspaper was started by Stanley Stein, a pharmacist who was diagnosed with leprosy aged 21, was taken to Carville, USA in the 1930s.  The Star was sent around the world. He used it to advocate on behalf of all people affected by leprosy. On the sheets he tried to promote an educated attitude to leprosy, based on scientific evidence. The motto “Radiating the light of truth” appeared on every issue.

The Star is still published today and it's current editor is Jose Ramirez.

Visit The Star website

 
National Hansen's Disease (Leprosy) Program  - Data and statistics

Click on the titles below for links to data from the website of the US National Hansen's (Leprosy) Disease Program

Number of US Hansen's Disease (Leprosy) cases by year 1824 - 2005

Endemic Hansen's Disease (Leprosy) in Louisiana 2001