{"id":1987861,"date":"2023-08-01T14:59:01","date_gmt":"2023-08-01T18:59:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/leprosy-may-be-becoming-endemic-in-florida-what-to-know\/"},"modified":"2023-08-01T15:01:11","modified_gmt":"2023-08-01T19:01:11","slug":"leprosy-may-be-becoming-endemic-in-florida-what-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/leprosy-may-be-becoming-endemic-in-florida-what-to-know\/","title":{"rendered":"Leprosy possibly spreading in Florida: Key details"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fleprosy-may-be-becoming-endemic-in-florida-what-to-know%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1987861&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>The Centers \u2062for Disease Control and Prevention Raises Concerns About Rising Cases\u2062 of Leprosy in Florida<\/h2>\n<p>The\u2064 Centers for Disease Control \u2064and\u200b Prevention (CDC) recently published a research letter sounding\u200d the alarm about the\u200c increasing cases of leprosy in Florida. Epidemiologists, \u200dafter reviewing\u2064 the most recent data from 2020, are worried that \u2062this skin and neurological disease\u200b is becoming endemic in certain parts of Florida, potentially spreading across the Sunbelt.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;Florida, USA, has witnessed an increased incidence of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/leprosy-may-be-becoming-endemic-in-florida-what-to-know\/\" title=\"Leprosy possibly spreading in Florida: Key details\">leprosy cases lacking traditional risk\u200d factors<\/a>. Those trends, in addition to decreasing diagnoses in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/true-number-of-illegal-alien-population-likely-three-times-higher-than-oft-quoted-11-million-estimate\/\" title=\"True Number of Illegal Alien Population Likely Three Times Higher Than Oft-Quoted \"11 Million\" Estimate\">foreign-born persons<\/a>, contribute to rising evidence that leprosy has \u200bbecome endemic in the southeastern United States,&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Here\u2064 is what you need to know about this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/report-sen-richard-burr-called-brother-in-law-ahead-of-stock-dump\/\" title=\"REPORT: Sen. Richard Burr Called Brother-In-Law Ahead Of Stock Dump\">emerging public health threat<\/a>:<\/p>\n<h3>What is happening in Florida?<\/h3>\n<p>In 2020, \u2062the leprosy cases in central Florida accounted for one-fifth of \u2062the 159 \u2063new\u200c cases of \u2062the disease \u200din the U.S. The central part of the state\u2063 alone contributed to 81% of the total cases in Florida.<\/p>\n<p>While leprosy is extremely rare in the \u2064U.S., most \u2062cases are either acquired through foreign travel to endemic areas or by contact with infected animals. However, approximately 34% of the leprosy\u200c cases \u2063in Florida were locally acquired, \u2063indicating that the disease \u2064is becoming endemic in \u200dcertain parts of the state.<\/p>\n<h3>What is leprosy, and \u200dhow is it spread?<\/h3>\n<p>Leprosy, also known as Hansen&#8217;s\u200d disease, manifests through painful skin lesions and \u2063peripheral nerve damage. If left untreated, it can lead to\u200b paralysis, chronic \u2063ulcers, blindness, and permanent nerve pain. The disease is\u200c treatable with a three-drug antibiotic combination.<\/p>\n<p>While there\u2063 may be zoonotic transmission from \u2064armadillos in some parts of the South, the\u200b primary \u2063mode of leprosy\u200b spread is through\u2064 respiratory droplets. Casual contact, such as shaking hands \u2064or hugging, does not\u200c transmit the disease. Infected individuals stop transmitting the disease shortly after treatment.<\/p>\n<h3>What \u200bis the \u2062role of migration?<\/h3>\n<p>The research letter suggests that international migration may be a contributing factor to \u2064the increasing leprosy cases in the\u200c U.S., which have risen alongside immigration rates. \u2064The authors note that while the incidence of leprosy has been increasing, the rates of new diagnoses\u200c in foreign-born\u200c individuals have been\u200c declining since 2002. The \u2064rise in international migrants in North America may explain the\u200d increase in\u2062 leprosy incidence in historically nonendemic areas.<\/p>\n<p>Although there is \u2062little evidence for animal-to-human spread\u200c in Florida, the theory of international\u200d migration as a potential source of native transmission \u2062is supported.<\/p>\n<h3>What is the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/johnson-johnson-plans-to-seek-fda-authorization-for-its-single-dose-vaccine\/\" title=\"Johnson &#038; Johnson Plans To Seek FDA Authorization For Its Single-Dose Vaccine\">public health response<\/a>?<\/h3>\n<p>The Florida Department of Health has not yet responded to inquiries regarding the research\u2062 letter or the most recent numbers. \u200cHowever, medical practitioners are required to\u200b report \u2062leprosy cases \u200cwithin \u2062one\u2062 business day to facilitate contact \u200btracing and\u200c contain the outbreak.<\/p>\n<p>Contact tracing plays a \u2062critical\u200b role in \u200didentifying\u2062 sources \u2064and\u200d reducing transmission. By increasing efforts to report incidence and supporting further research on transmission routes, \u200da concerted effort \u200ccan be made to identify and reduce the spread of the disease.<\/p>\n<p>The World Health Organization emphasizes that case detection and treatment alone\u200b are insufficient to interrupt transmission.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\">Click here<\/a> to\u200c read more \u2062from\u200c The Washington Examiner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The CDC issued a research letter, warning about increasing leprosy cases in Florida. Based on 2020 data, epidemiologists fear the disease is becoming endemic in specific areas, as it affects the skin and nervous system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1987862,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1987861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1987861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1987861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1987861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1987862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1987861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1987861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1987861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}