A research letter published by the CDC says cases of leprosy have increased in the southeastern US over the last decade.
Dr. Nicole Iovine is Clinical Professor and Hospital Epidemiologist at the University of Florida College of Medicine. She tells KNX In Depth, while it's not unusual to see a few cases of leprosy in the US each year, "the increase is certainly concerning."
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The most common way to contract leprosy, Dr. Iovine said, is through contact with an armadillo or someone already infected.
For example, "Some people will trap armadillos for food, and in the context of butchering the animal, there would be aerosols that can be inhaled and then lead to disease," she said.
What's concerning about the CDC's report is that, "Several cases in central Florida demonstrate no clear evidence of zoonotic exposure or traditionally known risk factors."
The report provides an example of a man with no known transmission route, but Dr. Iovine said, "The person was a landscaper, so I could certainly see how in the context of doing work...One could inadvertently come into contact with armadillos or armadillo parts, as it were, without realizing it and thereby be exposed."
Dr. Peter Katona, an infectious disease expert at UCLA's Geffen School of Medicine, tells KNX In Depth that armadillos are only part of the picture.
He said armadillos became a concern for infection due to experiments carried out at a leprosy center in Carville, South Louisiana. However, he said, another significant cause of illness is international travel.
"There are a lot of leprosy cases, hundreds of thousands of them in countries like Brazil, Indonesia, and India, and many of the cases come from there," he said.
While Dr. Katona agrees cases come from armadillos and abroad, he believes there may be other factors we are not yet aware of.
Luckily, Dr. Katona said that although it was extremely deadly during biblical times, leprosy is highly responsive to treatment. He has seen great success among the dozens of cases he's treated in India and here in the US.
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