?Contagiousness of Leprosy. 295
Table V-continued.
Evidence in Favour of Contagion afforded by Persons Eating and
Drinking with Lepers.
ASYLUM OR
CENTRE.
No. of Lepers.

No. of persons eating and and drinking with them.

How many of these are affected.
REMARKS.
Thayetmyo
 10
16
5
In one case the disease appeared in
two people at the same time, and,
therefore, one cannot be said to have
infected the other. In another case
the diagnosis of leprosy in the supposed infected person was extremely
doubtful, and in third instance two
persons eating together developed the
disease within year of each other.
TOTAL
86
212
21

For the construction of this table, only the information obtained from asylums and districts in which the Commissioners
paid special attention to this point, has been considered. In
all the cases, with the exception of those in Gya, families used
to eat at the same time, and out of the same vessels. Since
at Gya the wives previously washed the dishes from which their
leper husbands had eaten, these seven cases must be excluded
in calculating the possible influence of contagion. Hence the
figures show that of two hundred and five persons who exposed
themselves by eating and drinking with lepers to the danger of
infection, only twenty-one became affected. Moreover, in the
one instance where two individuals who had constantly eaten
together from the same vessels became diseased at the same
time, there can be no question of contagion. Again, cases of
persons who had not come into contact with lepers for long
period cannot be quoted in favour of contagion. Five such
instances are to be found in Table V, one from Agra, one from
Aligarh, one from Benares, one from Calcutta, and one from
Mandalay. The assumption of so long an incubation period as