Leprosy and Plague are on the Rise in the US

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Hansen's disease, an ancient malady more commonly known as leprosy, affects two to three million people around the globe and has historically been very rare in the United States, with only a couple of hundred cases being reported in this country each year.   But many of those cases appear to be originating in the southeastern US where research shows that the number of reported cases have doubled in the last decade - and many of those cases are occurring in Florida.  Florida accounts for about twenty-percent of leprosy cases nationwide, and roughly four-fifths (81%) of those cases that do occur in Florida happen in and around Brevard County in the central part of the state.

There have been fifteen reported cases of the disease in Florida this year, and most of those have been in Brevard County.   Because there are so many cases in central Florida, some are regarding it as "endemic" to the area meaning that it has reached a point where it has a consistent presence in the area's population.   When symptoms of Hansen's disease or leprosy appear in other parts of the country, many doctors now ask as a screening question if the patient has recently been to Florida.

The disease is a rare type of bacterial infection that attacks the nerves and can cause swelling under the skin.  It is usually not spread through casual human contact such as shaking hands or sitting next to a person on public transportation, but rather is thought to spread through prolonged exposure to an infected person, or through moisture droplets from an infected person's coughs or sneezes.

Armadillos can also be carriers of the disease, and it can spread into the human population through human interaction with armadillos.

And, if leprosy isn't enough to inspire the public to amp up their personal preventative health measures, consider this:  bubonic plague is also on the rise in the United States.  In a normal year there are about twelve new cases of the plague in this country, with most occurring in rural areas in the American west and southwest.  This year, however, there were eleven new cases reported in just five months - from April up until August.  

Only a couple of thousand cases of plague are reported worldwide each year, with most of those being in Africa, India, an Peru.   Humans usually contract the plague by touching animals that are infected with it.

Even though the brunt of the recent pandemic seems to have passed, it is still with us and a fact of life.  That, along with ancient cripplers and killers like leprosy and the bubonic plague, should encourage caution and using methods of prevention whenever they are available.  Face masks are effective in curing the spread of certain airborne pathogens, and there are an assortment of medicines and vaccines which curtail specific viral infections and diseases.  

We are living in dangerous times.  Employing science and modern medicine and sound medical practices to protect one's health is just basic common sense.

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