When Was Leprosy? The Case of the Culion Leper Colony in the U.S.-Occupied Philippines, 1902–1941

Time: 12:00 - 1:00 p.m.

Place: 6th Floor Conference Room, Chemical Heritage Foundation

Information: 215-873-8289 or bbl@chemheritage.org

Certain facts are known about leprosy: it is a bacterial disease that attacks nerve endings. Certain facts are known about leprosy in the U.S.-occupied Philippines during the first half of the 20th century. In 1902 the Philippines Commission Report recommended establishing a leper colony. In 1906 Culion, a verdant island in the northern tip of Palawan, took in its first 302 residents. These facts can be taken as the “start” of leprosy in the Philippines under U.S. colonial rule. For nearly 40 years Culion was at the experimental intersection of medical, scientific, and colonial civic governance. What remains unanswered, however, is when and how leprosy ended. How did a disease that was made a focus of public-health efforts on the part of U.S. colonial administrators disappear? What were the epidemiological, historical, and philosophical imperatives that contributed to the end of leprosy? Along with examining leprosy as medical evidence and as scientific data, this talk will orient leprosy around time.