More leprosy cases are popping up in Florida. Why an ancient disease might be endemic

Leprosy hearkens back centuries, all the way to its reference in the Bible in the Book of Leviticus. People in Florida are talking about leprosy again — and not just in church or Sunday school.

More cases are popping up across the country, including Florida, where the disease may have become endemic, experts say. Overall, the number of cases have been decreasing across the nation after a rise in several states over the past decade. A disease is considered endemic when it is consistently present in a place. A pandemic, like COVID, can spread far and quickly.

Even though most people have natural immunity against the ancient bacterium that causes leprosy, thousands across the world get sick every year from the nerve and skin disease. And across the nation, which sees about 150 cases a year, infections in the southeastern U.S. have more than doubled in the last decade, according to research published last year in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Emerging Infectious Diseases peer-reviewed journal.

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