From: Leo van Bergen: ‘The medical Journal of the Dutch Indies, 1852-1942’ , p.160-173:

This leprosarium was founded about 1875 and was situated in the heart of Java and was part of a great military facility. Plantungan was one of the few leprosaria on Java who didnot disappear in the decades after 1870 and it was the only one welcoming European leprosy-sufferers. It professed the belief that the cause of leprosy was a hereditary one and not a contagious one, as after 1873 was put forward because Amauer Hansen had discovered the Mycobacterium leprae. This debate on the hereditary or contagious nature of leprosy went on for quite a time. In Plantungan the doctor van der Stok and his successor C.A. Norden remained in favour of the hereditary theory.

In 1865 the official Dutch Governmental Declaration had pronounced that leprosy was a hereditary illness. In 1907 this declaration was withdrawn. New leprosaria were built that, to save costs, were mostly administered by religious organizations such as mission and Salvation Army. However, results were meagre. The discussion on how to best combat leprosy therefore continued and ould not end before the midst of the twentieth centurywhen finally a cure was found.

See also: Verslag in GTNI 1904,  In GTNI 1910 Het lepravraagstuk in NI door J.de Haan p. 202-218