Why It Matters: The disease can be treated if doctors recognize it.
Leprosy, also known as Hansen’s disease, is caused byslow-growing bacteria called Mycobacterium leprae. About 95 percent of people are genetically resistant to the bacteria.
There were 159 new cases in 2020, the most recent year for which national data are available. New cases are reported most commonly in Florida, California, Louisiana, Hawaii, New York and Texas. Central Florida accounts for 81 percent of the cases reported in that state.
The bacteria are thought to be transmitted by droplets from the nose and mouth of an infected patient, but only after close, sustained contact. Armadillos famously carry the bacteria, and people may become infected through contact with the animals.
Caught early enough, leprosy can be cured with standard antibiotic drugs taken over a year. Treatment can make patients noninfectious within a week.
But, left untreated, the bacteria can damage nerves and lead to permanent disabilities including paralysis and blindness. The physical changes associated with the disease can also lead to the enduring stigmatization and isolation of infected people.
“The fact that this patient had never traveled outside of the state of Florida was something that we just wanted to bring to light to those clinicians and physicians that are in the area,” said Dr. Rajiv Nathoo, a dermatologist and senior author on the study.
What It Looks Like: Striking symptoms can take decades to develop.
M. leprae may damage skin, peripheral nerves, the upper respiratory tract and the eyes.
The disease starts with either discolored, numb patches on the skin or with tiny nodules under it. Early symptoms can easily be mistaken for other skin conditions like psoriasis or eczema. Symptoms can develop as many as 20 years after exposure, making it even more challenging to diagnose the disease.
Left untreated, the bacteria slowly destroy nerves and muscles, leading to striking deformities in the hands and feet, sometimes referred to as claw hands and hammer toes.
The disease was first described thousands of years ago. While it may seem like a thing of the past, roughly 200,000 new infections continue to crop up all over the world each year, with a majority in Southeast Asia and India, according to the World Health Organization.
Eliminating the disease in some countries like India has proved to be much more challenging than public health officials expected.
What Scientists Don’t Know: How some cases are acquired.
Researchers have identified a second type of bacteria that leads to leprosy. Both pathogens are close cousins of the bacteria that cause tuberculosis.
None of these bacterial species can easily be cultured in the lab, leaving many questions unanswered about the disease’s transmission and progression.
New cases of leprosy were often diagnosed in people who had traveled to other parts of the world. But since 2015, more than one-third of the cases in the United States have been locally acquired.
Many new patients report no travel or contact with armadillos that would explain their infection, according to the researchers.
This means, you take one article, and you use the article distribution system. It will generate thousands of unique versions of your article, and publish those unique articles to hundreds of websites that are related to your niche.
Take a look at our comprehensive guide to the best and most popular information ebooks and products available today on Detoxing, Colon Cleansing, Weight Loss and Dating and Romance. They are all in one spot, easy to find and compere to make a quick selection for the product that best fits your needs or wants.
So browse through a category and make your preferred selection and come back here to read more choice articles and get a few more helpful tips on ways to help your enhancement.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. “saubiosaubiosuccess.com is a participant in third party affiliate and advertising programs; The Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, Awin network, and other affiliate advertising programs are designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees and commissions by advertising and linking to products on other sites and on Amazon.com. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc, or its affiliates.”
We use anonymous cookies and various 3rd-party services to optimise and to offer you a better, more personalised, browsing experience with advanced accessibility enhancements.
Dismiss
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
.jpeg "Invasive Strep A in Kids: What to Know After the Deaths in Colorado")
