Leprosy might seem like a disease of the past, but recent reports suggest its prevalence in the United States is increasing, especially in Central Florida.
A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that leprosy, or Hansen’s disease, is becoming more common in the Southeast. Central Florida has seen cases double in the past 10 years.
As previously reported in The Dallas Express, leprosy is a chronic condition that damages the peripheral nerves while causing skin lesions, nerve damage, and blindness. It is caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium leprae.
While this is a slow-moving bacterial infection, those with compromised immune systems — or even who are obese, a significant risk factor for hospitalization and mortality due to faster-moving infections like staphylococcus or COVID-19 — could see it spread widely.
However, leprosy is curable through drug therapy.
It is also only spreadable through long-term — even months-long — contact with an infected person. Usually, not even sexual contact would result in transmission.
Moreover, the CDC estimates that over 95% of the world’s population is naturally immune to the disease.
For these reasons, the current rise in leprosy cases — still hovering at only 150 to 250 a year — hasn’t caused significant alarm among public health authorities.
Nevertheless, what it does point to is the overall migration of illnesses.
“Usually you don’t see leprosy in temperate climates,” Dr. Nutan Gowda, a dermatologist at UMass Memorial Medical Center with prior experience treating leprosy, told Yahoo News. “We see it around the equator belt and where it is much warmer. But nowadays, we see bacterial illnesses that we used to see more in hotter parts of the country up in the Northeast, just because it’s so much warmer now.”
The CDC’s report noted that leprosy has become endemic, with approximately 34% of new U.S. cases from 2015 to 2020 contracted locally.
Previously, cases were most commonly found among those immigrating from or having recently stayed in leprosy-prevalent areas.
Because of leprosy’s rarity, doctors might not be able to promptly identify symptoms — usually just a rash and loss of sensation at first — in patients.
“Many times in the United States, because it is a rare disease, physicians don’t consider leprosy as the first instance. So there is a delayed diagnosis. That is more of a problem than anything,” explained Ramanuj Lahiri, a senior research scientist at NHDP’s Laboratory Research Branch, according to The Hill.
