Miami.- The incidence of leprosy is gradually increasing in the US and in the last decade the number of reported cases has more than doubled in southeastern states such as Florida, according to research published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (CDC).
An “investigation letter” published in the August issue of a magazine of that US Government agency. It has put Floridians on notice, especially those in the central area, where almost a fifth of all new leprosy cases reported in the country in 2020, which were 159, were concentrated.
According to researchers Aashni Bhukhan, Charles Dunn and Rajiv Nathoo, there is a higher incidence of leprosy cases lacking traditional risk factors, adding to the evidence that the disease “has become endemic in the southeast.” from United States”.
Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by the bacillus Mycobacterium leprae that mainly affects the skin. and the peripheral nervous system and is spread from person to person primarily through prolonged exposure to respiratory droplets, the research says.
“Historically, leprosy has been rare in the United States. The incidence peaked around 1983 and there was a drastic reduction in the annual number of documented cases from the 1980s to 2000,” say the researchers.
But a decade ago the incidence began to rise again.
The particularity is that the cases in which the patient is a person born in a foreign country with an incidence of leprosy have decreased and also the cases that are due to risk factors such as contact with animals that transmit the so-called Hansen’s disease, like some kind of armadillos.
The researchers put as For example, the case of a 54-year-old man living in central Florida who was diagnosed with leprosy and has received treatment for the disease.
“The patient denied any domestic or foreign travel, exposure to armadillos, prolonged contact with immigrants from leprosy-endemic countries, or connections to someone known to have leprosy. He has lived in central Florida his entire life, gardening and spending long periods of time outdoors,” he notes.
