Quote:
Originally Posted by sun surfer
...I suppose that would put Matsu at risk definitely and possibly, slightly Stephen, although on the other hand Stephen could've been contagious to others with his tuberculosis as well (I kept expecting that his sister was going to get it because of her going in to see him before he left China)...
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I also wondered about Stephen and his tuberculosis. Back around 2006 I was commuting back and forwards to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea doing an assignment and was taken boating a few times; out at the entrance of the harbour is Gemo Island which had an isolation hospital (and nothing else, as best I recall) for both leprosy and tuberculosis on it which I was able to see. It was closed around mid 1970s I was told. The cohabitation of
both diseases considered needed to be isolated there came to my mind when I read this book.
As an aside to that, Papua New Guinea is currently going through a significant increase of leprosy cases, so while it is treatable it is not always able to get treated due to non medical reasons.
When I was around 10 years old or so my father was diagnosed with suspected tuberculosis after a chest x-ray for other reasons and placed in an isolation ward (with others). It turned out that the x-rays showed scarring from having had, probably tuberculosis, sometime in the past but self recovered. He had spent some years overseas previously, including in India and the Middle East. After all that explanation the nub is that despite being in an isolation ward and thought to be infected, together with others, both myself and my younger sister were free to visit him with no restrictions.
So it seems there are plenty of contradictions, perhaps like we face now.
And some more (Oh No!
). Leprosy is basically non-existent here in NZ but there is the occasional imported case (in worldwide statistics I found it is shown as "None"); way back I was chatting with our family doctor and he was feeling particularly pleased with himself as that morning he had diagnosed his first ever case of leprosy, apparently an achievement due to its rarity and symptoms.