Leprosy Is On The Rise In The US And Elsewhere
www.civilbeat.org

... The word "leprosy" conjures images of biblical plagues, but the disease is still with us today. Caused by infectious bacteria, some 200,000 new cases are reported each year, according to the World Health Organization. In the United States, leprosy has been entrenched for more than a century in parts of the South where people came into contact with armadillos, the principle proven linkage from animal to humans. However, the more recent outbreaks in the Southeast, especially Florida, have not been associated with animal exposure.

The Conversation talked with Robert A. Schwartz, professor and head of dermatology at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, to explain what researchers know about the disease. ...

Leprosy is beginning to occur regularly within parts of the southeastern United States. Most recently, Florida has seen a heightened incidence of leprosy, accounting for many of the newly diagnosed cases in the U.S. ...

Mounting Evidence Suggests Leprosy Is Endemic in Florida (August 2023)
jamanetwork.com

... In recent years, an increasing number of people in Florida have been diagnosed with leprosy who don't have a history of risk factors for typical transmission routes. These routes include travel to areas where the condition is widespread or contact with armadillos, which may harbor the infection-causing Mycobacterium leprae. Leprosy diagnoses in people born outside the US have also been decreasing.

Taken together, the trends suggest that the condition, also known as Hansen disease, has become endemic in the southeastern US, according to a report published in the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. The article included a case report of a person in central Florida without traditional risk factors who was recently diagnosed with leprosy. ...