Hydnocarpus Oil

Last week the British Empire Leprosy Relief Association announced that a positive cure for leprosy had been effected. Hydnocarpus oil is the new remedy. For ten concentrated years scientists have been working to extract an oil from the dried fruit of the hydnocarpus tree that could safely be used in the fight against leprosy. The virtues of this oil have long been known, but its use was restricted because it blocked the veins and choked off the blood stream. Since bacillus leprae exists in the circulating blood as well as in the organs and tissues, a destructive agent that could be released directly into the blood stream was desirable. Hitherto the treatment of leprosy has consisted of injections of chaulmoogra oil into the muscles, which is a less direct attack on the microbe. As now perfected, hydnocarpus oil has a 100% efficiency in the early stages of the disease, and 30% in the advanced stages.

The Leprosy Relief Association plans to establish a chain of relief stations fully equipped with drugs, throughout the Empire. To perpetuate the supply, the hydnocarpus tree will be planted in all the British possessions.

Leprosy is not an infectious disease, the germs are not carried through air or water; but it is contagious and is communicated by direct contact.