An alarming rumour was circulated on Monday that an American lady had contracted leprosy as a result of "Ningpo varnish poisoning."
Very few cases of the former disease have ever occurred in foreign Shanghai, and a '"North-China Daily News" representative who made inquiries at the offices of the Health Department was assured that no case of leprosy either among foreign or Chinese residents had been notified to the authorities.
It appears that at a house in the western district leased from Chinese landlords, in which the supposed victim's family reside, extensive varnishing was begun a few weeks ago. Each member of the family was affected and one of them was sent to a nursing home last week, suffering from a virulent form of the poisoning to which some people are peculiarly susceptible. The most distressing symptoms of the disease resemble certain stages of Teprosy.
"Only by the remotest coincide ence—in fact, I would go so far as to say it is an impossibility—could anyone suffering from this poison be stricken with leprosy," said Dr.
N. Davis, acting Commissioner of Public Health, when approached on the subject by the North-China Daily News."
The poison which this lady is suffering from is probably toxicodenric, caused by contact with toxicodenric acid, present in Ningpo varnish, and akin to "ivy poisoning."" The varnish is made from a bark and coloured with pig's blood, but it is unlikely that it contains the bacteria of leprosy.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.