was a Japanese physicist and medical researcher. He worked in Kuryu Rakusen-en Sanatorium,

Tohoku Shinseien Sanatorium Tōhoku Shinseien Sanatorium or National Sanatorium Tōhoku Shinseien is a sanatorium for leprosy or ex-leprosy patients situated in Tome-shi, Miyagi-ken, Japan, founded in 1939. History Background Following prefectural sanatoriums, the Japanese G ...

Suruga Sanatorium or National Suruga Sanatorium is a national sanatorium for leprosy and ex-leprosy patients situated in Gotemba, Shizuoka, Japan since 1945. History After the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War (July 7, 1937- ), wounded soldiers became probl ...

and

Nagashima Aiseien Sanatorium The , or the National Sanatorium Nagashima Aiseien, is a sanatorium on the island of Nagashima in Setouchi, Okayama, Japan founded in 1930 for the treatment of leprosy. Currently, only former leprosy patients reside there. History Background In ...

Life

Shigetaka Takashima was born in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

on June 29, 1907. In 1931, he graduated from

Keio University , mottoeng = The pen is mightier than the sword , type = Private research coeducational higher education institution , established = 1858 , founder = Yukichi Fukuzawa , endow ...

. In the same year, he entered Keio University's department of preventive medicine. In 1933, he worked in Kuryu Rakusen-en Sanatorium. In 1939, he worked in

. In 1942, he worked in Musashi Sanatorium for the War Disabled. In 1943, he served as the acting director in Ehime Sanatorium for the War Disabled. In 1944, he was the acting director in Tokyo Sanatorium for the War Disabled. In December 1944, he was appointed the director of Suruga Sanatorium for the War Disabled. In December 1945, he became the director of

. In August 1957, he was appointed director of

following the retirement of

Kensuke Mitsuda was a Japanese leprologist and director of the Tama Zenshoen Sanatorium (1914–1931) and the National Sanatorium Nagashima Aiseien (1931–1957). He had been at the frontier of leprosy policy of Japan. He was given the Order of Cultural Merits ( ...

. In April 1978, he was made honorary director of

. He was given the First Order of the Sacred Treasure in 1978. Takashima died on January 23, 1985.

War and leprosy

In 1947, he delivered a special lecture on war and leprosy at the Congress of the

Japanese Leprosy Association Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

, which was reported in the next year.War and leprosy (1948), Takashima S. Lepra, 17, 8-14, 1948. (in Japanese) He obtained correct data since he had worked for sanatoriums for the war disabled. He reported that the total number of leprosy in-patients who developed during service was 732; 0.13 per 1000 mobilized. If other conditions were included, he estimated that an average of 100 patients developed leprosy among soldiers and sailors per year. He also pointed out that the number of military patients per localities correlated with the number of patients who lived in these localities, and suggested that the military patients had been infected in childhood. Another point he stressed was that only 3 officers developed leprosy, while all others were soldiers and sailors.

Other work

A Guide to Leprosy Medicine

In 1970, he compiled a textbook "A guide to leprosy (''Rai Igaku no Tebiki'')", which was the only one textbook of leprosy at that time. It was one year prior to the publication of the first edition of the Handbook of Leprosy by

William Jopling William Jopling (2 March 1911 – 21 August 1997) was an Italian-born British leprologist who together with D. S. Ridley proposed the Ridley-Jopling classification of leprosy (1962), and wrote the widely read textbook of "Handbook of Lepros ...

Nagashima Bridge

He tried to construct a bridge to

from Japan Proper, and the bridge was completed in 1988. It was a step toward lessening

leprosy stigma Leprosy stigma is a type of social stigma, a strong negative feeling towards a person with leprosy relating to their moral status in society. It is also referred to as leprosy-related stigma, leprostigma, and stigma of leprosy. Since ancient times ...

Footnotes

References

*Kika Onza (In Memory of Dr. Shigetaka Takashima). (1988) Takashima Sensei o Shinobukai, Kowakikaku, Tokyo. In Japanese.
Int J Dermatol 8, 1969, He published in Int Society of Tropical Medicine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Takashima Shigetaka Japanese leprologists 1907 births 1985 deaths Japanese healthcare managers