CDC: Researchers Suggest Leprosy May Become Endemic in Florida

Breitbart.com reports: “Researchers suggest that leprosy has become endemic in the southeastern United States, with Central Florida accounting for 20 percent of cases.

The entire state of Florida accounts for 81 percent of the biblical-era disease in the United States.

The study published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed 159 new cases were reported in the U.S. in 2020, doubling the number of reported cases in the last decade based on data collected by National Hansen’s Disease Program. Approximately 70 percent of these new cases were reported in Florida, California, Louisiana, Hawaii, New York, and Texas.

Leprosy, otherwise known as Hansen’s disease, is a ‘chronic infectious disease caused by the acid-fast rod Mycobacterium leprae.’ The diseaseprimarily targets the skin and peripheral nervous system which includes the brain and spinal cord. While it is unclear how it spreads; researchers believe ‘prolonged person-to-person contact through respiratory droplets is the most widely recognized route of transmission.’…”

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