US health agency's major worry: ‘Historically uncommon’ leprosy cases recorded

US health agency Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) flagged surging leprosy cases in Florida. Florida may have become an "endemic location" for the infectious disease, it was reported. As many as 159 new cases of leprosy were detected in the US in 2020. Florida recorded the most cases of which nearly a fifth were registered in the state's central region. In the south-eastern side of the country, the number of leprosy cases have more than doubled over the last decade, CDC noted.

"Whereas leprosy in the United States previously affected persons who had immigrated from leprosy-endemic areas, [about] 34 per cent of new case patients during 2015–20 appeared to have locally acquired the disease," the CDC said.

The data adds up to the “mounting epidemiological evidence supporting leprosy as an endemic in the south-eastern United States”, the health agency said.

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"Travel to this area, even in the absence of other risk factors, should prompt consideration of leprosy in the appropriate clinical context," the CDC warned.

What CDC said on leprosy?

Leprosy can lead to serious disabilities, including nervous damage, the CDC said. The agency cited the case of a 54-year-old man from central Florida who had not traveled domestically or internationally and had not had “prolonged contact with immigrants from leprosy-endemic countries”.

"The absence of traditional risk factors in many recent cases of leprosy in Florida, coupled with the high proportion of residents, like our patient, who spend a great deal of time outdoors, supports the investigation into environmental reservoirs as a potential source of transmission," the CDC said.

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