Leprosy is still found in the United States where a couple hundred cases are reported annually mostly from Florida, Texas, Louisiana and California.

Image/National Atlas of the United States
It is not an infectious disease you see everyday in Woodbury County, Iowa, or in Iowa generally (<10 cases in two decades); however, according to the Iowa Department of Health, a case had been confirmed in February.
Further details of the case were not published.
Hansen’s disease, formerly known as leprosy, is caused by Mycobacterium leprae (M. leprae ) bacteria. The infection has also been identified in nine-banded armadillos. Approximately 95 percent of people are resistant to infection; people who develop clinical illness can experience a wide range of clinical manifestations, but typically develop infections involving the skin, peripheral nerves and nasal mucosa.
Although the mode of transmission of Hansen’s disease is not clearly defined, most investigators believe that M. leprae is usually spread person-to-person in respiratory droplets following extended close contact with an infected person, such as living in the same household.
Research in the journal, Emerging Infectious Diseases shows that the nine-banded armadillos (Dasypus novemcinctus), animals that naturally carry the leprosy bacterium, Mycobacterium leprae and have been linked to zoonotic infections, have spread their geography to affect more areas of the southeastern United States.
Feared as a highly contagious and devastating disease, it is well established that leprosy is not highly transmissible, is very treatable, and with early diagnosis and treatment, is not disabling.
Leprosy remains the most misunderstood human infectious disease. The stigma long associated with the disease still exists in most of the world and the psychological and social effects may be more difficult to deal with than the actual physical illness.
Related:
- Leprosy research to look at the role of ticks as vectors of disease
- Florida sees drop in leprosy cases in 1st two months of 2017
- American Leprosy Missions: An interview with CEO Bill Simmons
- Jurupa Valley: One child infected with leprosy
- Leprosy is not limited to peripheral nerve injury, it can affect the brain: Research
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