Floridians should avoid wrestling armadillos unless necessary
In many ways the past few years have seemed biblical. First came a pandemic. Then war, followed by food shortages, fires and floods. Just when it seemed that things could not look more like the end of days, leprosy has joined the list.
Hansen’s disease, better known as leprosy, is a tropical malady that is rare in America. In 2020 (the last year with available data) just 159 cases were reported. Only 5% of people seem to be susceptible to infection. Because it is so rare, Americans seldom think about leprosy, and many clinicians have never seen it outside a textbook. This is starting to change.
Charles Dunn, a dermatologist, and his colleague, Rajiv Nathoo, came across their first leprosy patient last year in a clinic in Orlando, Florida. “It was very classic in terms of what you read in the books,” says Dr Dunn. Yet the 54-year-old patient had been seen by multiple clinicians, and none had properly diagnosed him.
2023-08-24 07:47:07
Article from www.economist.com
