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KMID : 0378019760190030325
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New Medical Journal
1976 Volume.19 No. 3 p.325 ~ p.337
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A Historical and Epidemiological Study of Leprosy in Jeju Island
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Abstract
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Jeju island, located in the southern end of Korea, was a semi-isolated land even before 1945.
To review the historical aspect of leprosy in Korea, there were 100 odd leprosy patients in Jeju island, where a population of 63,935 was in the 17th year of King Se-jong(1450, A.D.), and for the first time in the history of Korea, King-Se-jong did a leprosy work. As famine repeated in the island, King Se-jong let the isladers migrate to the Korean mainland, and the island population in the 35th year of the king(1468, A. D.) decreased to only 19,377. Most islanders moved to a part of such provinces as Jolla, Kyungsang and Choong Chung and to the coast of a part of Kangwon province. A historical record was made that leprosy patients were found in the southern area of Korea in 1612 for the first time, 162 years after such migration was made.
Leprosy was even in the ancient China, but no leprosy patients were found in the provinces of Pyungan and Hamkyung which were connected closely to the Chinese continent, though the inhabitants traded with China from the ancient time. And there was not any major spread of leprosy in Tangjin, which was the center of Korean trades with China, during the era of Chinese Tang dynasty. Now the leprosy ratio in the area is relatively small, in comparison of population(41 leprosy patients in the Tangjin county population of 172, 955).
In the history of neighbouring country, Japan, it is stated that leprosy was found from around the year, 700, A.D. Jeju island, located closest to Japan, had contact with Japan even in the ancient time; so, it is assumed that leprosy in Korea was from Jeju island, and the leprosy in Jeju was from Japan.
So, in order to make the historical study of leprosy in Jeju, the author had a research of the geography, history, and indigenes of Jeju, and this study was made in the hope that a direction might be presented for the control of Korean leprosy, by having the effective research on current
status of leprosy in Jegu and its epidemilogical study.
The results are summarized and concluded as follows:
Jeju island, the biggest island of Korea located in the southern end of the country, had the indigenes originated from Korubuk tribe (ancestors(?) of the people now surnamed Ko, Ryang, and Bu
in the island) of Kyushu area of Japan; their blood was mixed with that of those who migrated from South Pacific, China, Mongolia, and Korea; as a result, their life and dialect are quite different from those of the people in the Korean mainland(though they are almost assimilated with the people of Korean mainland).
(1) The Jeju island leprosy records appearing in the current book of history are: 69 in the SejongSilrok(1445, A. D.) and 100 and more in the Moonjong-Silrok, written in April of the 6th year(1451, A. D.) It shows that leprosy in Korea was initiatiated in the Jeju island. Later, 162 years after that, it is recorded, leprosy spread to the provinces of Kyungsang, Choong Chung and Kangwon, in April of the 4th year of Kwang-hai-koon, as written in the diary Vol. 52. From the facts that most indigenes are composed of the people from Japan, South Pacific, Mongolia, China and Korea, that there is no record of leprosy in Korea in prior to such record, and that the spread of leprosy in Japan preceded Korea by 600 years, therefore, it may be said that leprosy in Korea came from Jeju island, and the leprosy in Jeju came from Japan.
(2) The number of leprosy patients registered in the Health Center in Jeju island are 33 among the population of 365,229 (in 1970); the number the author confirmed, however, is 24. It may imply that many of the leprosy patients in Jeju island must be treated in the Korean mainland, in the fear that their disease may be recognized by the general public.
(3) As a result from the mass survey of 3,216 students of 8 secondary schools, 26 doubtful cases and 1 leprosy were found out; however, the histological test of the 8 of them revealed "none specific inflammation with dermal fibrosis and no acid fast organism." But it is necessary to keep observing them and it is particularly noticeable that new cases of lepromatous type were found among the boys and girls around 20 years old. Probably many new cases will be found, if the mass survey is carried on for all the students and the youth in Jeju island.
(4) According to the statistics made by Ministry of Health and Social Affairs in 1973, all the leprosy patients registered in Korea were 26,917, and 32 in Jeju island; however, there are some Lepromatous type in the new patients of young age, who are inhabited in the urban area where the population is relatively densxr than the rural community. This gives us a concern that leprosy would occur in the urban area more than in rural community in Korea, along with the tendency
that population of rural community is moving to the urban area.
(5) As to the ratio of sex in the leprosy patients in Jeju island, it is almost equal, unlike the 2 : 1 or 3 : 2 in other provinces. This may be caused by the fact that female exceed male in number in Jeju is well known as an island of many female, and by the fact that outdoor activities of female are nearly same as those of male; it is assumed, therefore, that they may be infected nearly same degree, for skin disclosure is almost same.
(6) The King Se-jong appears to be the first leprosy relief worker in the history of Korea. There is no way to find where he did his leprosy work, but the leprosy settlement that is to say, the places for their relief, may be assumed to be Jeju for the present Samyang 2-dong, Jeju city, and Daijung for the present Moseulpo, and juneri for the present Pyosun, from the expression of place in the history books and from the oral instruction.
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KEYWORD
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