SUCCESSFUL INOCULATION OF ANIMALS WITH HUMAN LEPROSY HAS BEEN ACHIEVED IN THE LABORATORIES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PARASITOLOGY OF THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY.
THE RESULTS OF THE EXPERIMENTS CONDUCTED UNDER DIRECTION OF PROFESSOR SAUL ADLER, HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT, CONSTITUTE A LONG STEP FORWARD IN THE FIGHT AGAINST LEPROSY. IT WILL NOW BE POSSIBLE FOR THE FIRST TIME TO SEEK FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT THE DISEASE AND ITS CURE, USING ANIMAL SUBJECTS.
PROFESSOR ADLER DESCRIBED THE EXPERIMENTS IN A LETTER TO THE LANCET, BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL. THE ANIMALS SUCCESSFULLY INOCULATED WERE SYRIAN HAMSTERS, A SPECIES OF LARGE RAT-LIKE RODENTS, OF A STRAIN THAT HAS BEEN BRED AT THE UNIVERSITY SINCE 1930 AND PREVIOUSLY USED IN RESEARCH ON CONTAGIOUS DISEASES OF CATTLE.
THE LEPROSY RESEARCH WAS UNDERTAKEN AT THE SUGGESTION OF SIR PATRICK LAIDLAW, OF LONDON, WHO SAID SIMILAR ATTEMPTS AT LONDON HAD FAILED, POSSIBLY BECAUSE OF LACK OF SUITABLE MATERIAL. ALL PREVIOUS ATTEMPTS TO INFECT EXPERIMENTAL ANIMALS, INCLUDING MONKEYS, WITH HUMAN LEPRA BACILLUS, HAD BEEN UNSUCCESSFUL.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
