Medicine & Health
The Ball Method for chaulmoogra oil
The problem
The only known treatment for Hansen's disease was too thick to inject, too bitter to swallow and ineffective on the skin.
The innovation
A chemical process isolating the ethyl esters of chaulmoogra oil's fatty acids, producing an injectable, water-miscible preparation.
How it worked
Esterification converts the acids into a form that stays in solution and is absorbed rather than pooling under the skin.
Why it mattered
Patients treated with the preparation were discharged from Kalihi Hospital; forced isolation eased for some.
The legacy
Standard treatment until sulfones in the 1940s. Ball died before publishing; the University of Hawai'i later documented and restored her authorship.
Sources
Alice Ball research records and later attribution scholarship
Institutional record
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