The authors described a 54-year-old man who was diagnosed with the illness but had no known risk factors and had never traveled outside Florida.
Other people have similarly become infected without obvious explanation, suggesting that leprosy is now endemic in the state, the researchers said.
Still, there is no rising tide of leprosy in Florida.
In the United States, the number of infections plummeted after peaking in 1983 but began a slow rise again about 20 years ago.
The number of cases in the United States is fewer than 200 each year, and it is not rising.
Persons:
”, Charles Dunn
Organizations:
Leprosy, Disease Control
Locations:
Florida, United States