All known lepers are now cared for at Culion, a healthful, sanitary
town with good streets, excellent water and sewer systems, many modern
concrete buildings and a first-class hospital.
They are not confined to the limits of the town, but wander at will,
except that they are excluded from the immediate vicinity of the
houses of the officers and employees of the colony.
They may have their little farms, and raise pigs, chickens, vegetables,
etc., if they wish. They may, and do, float about over the waters of
the neighbouring bay in boats or on rafts, and fish to their hearts'
content. They are well fed and well cared for, and their physical
condition improves to a marked degree promptly after their arrival at
the colony. The only hardship which they suffer is that necessarily
involved in separation from their relatives and friends, and this is
mitigated by occasional visits which the latter may make them.
Since we began to isolate lepers, their number has decreased to
approximately three thousand, and with a continuance of the present
policy the disease should soon disappear from the Philippines.
During the period immediately subsequent to the American occupation,
amoebic dysentery wrought sad havoc both among our soldiers and among
civil government officers and employees.
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