Despite Alice Ball's tragically short life, her research made a huge difference to the lives of many patients in the first half of the 20th century. Her investigations of chaulmoogra oil, a natural remedy for Hansen's disease (leprosy), resulted in a preparation that was injectable and avoided the side-effects of the oil. Her extract became the standard treatment for Hansen's disease, until it was replaced by sulphur drugs and antibiotics in the late 1930s and 1940s, allowing people with the disease to return from isolation to their communities.
BT - The Lancet DO - 10.1016/s0140-6736(23)01806-8 IS - 10404 LA - Eng N2 -Despite Alice Ball's tragically short life, her research made a huge difference to the lives of many patients in the first half of the 20th century. Her investigations of chaulmoogra oil, a natural remedy for Hansen's disease (leprosy), resulted in a preparation that was injectable and avoided the side-effects of the oil. Her extract became the standard treatment for Hansen's disease, until it was replaced by sulphur drugs and antibiotics in the late 1930s and 1940s, allowing people with the disease to return from isolation to their communities.
PB - Elsevier BV PY - 2023 EP - 767 T2 - The Lancet TI - Alice Ball: chemist who developed a treatment for leprosy VL - 402 SN - 0140-6736 ER -