What's happening with leprosy in Florida
Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease, is caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae. Florida has become a focus of attention because its case numbers are climbing. For 2025, 36 cases have been confirmed in the state, and 27 of those are suspected to have resulted from household exposure. Meanwhile, 17 cases have been recorded in the state as of the current year. A large share of the infections have been reported in Central Florida. Without treatment, the disease can have severe outcomes, such as damage to nerve and eye cells, blindness, and permanent deformation of the limbs.
Global patterns and research findings
Around the world, more than 200,000 leprosy cases are reported each year, with roughly 200 of them occurring in the United States. Still, approximately 95 percent of people have a natural immunity to the infection. The illness is generally spread through sustained, close contact with someone who is infected. Nine-banded armadillos living in the southeastern United States can also naturally carry the leprosy bacteria, and in some Florida cases, investigators could not identify a clear source of transmission.
Recent science has added new dimensions to the story. The bacteria responsible for leprosy have been found to survive inside soil-dwelling amoebas. In addition, the disease has turned up in wild chimpanzees in West Africa. In 2017, ecologist Kimberley Hockings observed symptoms of leprosy in chimpanzees at Cantanhez National Park in Guinea-Bissau and alerted veterinarian Fabian Leendertz of the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin.
'This case resembles the photographs from a research center in Côte d'Ivoire.' - Fabian Leendertz
Researchers now say that chimpanzees living in two separate areas of West Africa have contracted leprosy. The strains found in the chimpanzees at these two parks are not linked, which suggests the infections did not arise from contact with humans.
The situation in Florida, along with developments elsewhere, highlights a disease that continues to deserve attention. Although leprosy is uncommon in the United States, the slow but noticeable rise in cases makes monitoring and awareness important. The role of animals, especially armadillos, adds complexity to prevention and control. And the discovery of leprosy in wild chimpanzees on another continent points toward fresh avenues for studying how the disease circulates and what that means for both human and animal health.