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No, the CDC has not issued a journey advisory for Florida over rising leprosy circumstances, regardless of the surge in Google searches about it.
Cases of Hansen’s illness, the official identify for the traditional biblical ailment, have risen sharply within the state, with a minimum of 36 circumstances reported in December by the Florida Department of Health in comparison with 20 in 2024. But no official travel advisory has been issued as of Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.
Hansen’s illness is brought on by a micro organism referred to as Mycobacterium leprae and primarily infects the pores and skin, nerves within the pores and skin and the liner of the airway passages of the nostril. It’s been round for millennia and was talked about prominently in each the Old and New Testaments of the Christian Bible. But it stays a contemporary illness, with about 225 individuals within the U.S. and 250,000 around the globe being recognized with it yearly, the CDC said.
Since 2000, the United States has seen a slight improve in circumstances, and Florida has just lately turn into the epicenter, with Central Florida alone accounting for almost 20% of the whole new circumstances within the nation in 2020, in line with knowledge from the National Hansen’s Disease Program. The FDOH has not but launched 2025 totals.
However, the illness isn’t simply unfold, is straightforward to deal with, and the CDC estimates that about 95% of Americans are immune. However, it may well take as much as 20 years to develop signs, and untreated infections can result in everlasting nerve harm.
“There is no travel warning in place for the state of Florida and nor will there ever be an official travel warning for a mildly infectious, curable disease like leprosy,” stated The Leprosy Mission, a virtually 150-year-old non-government group devoted to zero leprosy transmission by 2035.
Rumors of a journey advisory have surged earlier than. In 2023, an article in the journal “Emerging Infectious Diseases” reported that Florida circumstances had been rising and stated that “travel to this area, even in the absence of other risk factors, should prompt consideration of leprosy in the appropriate clinical context.”
The report did not advise people not to visit; it only advised them to be aware. But since the journal is published by the CDC, multiple news outlets reported it as an official advisory, and news quickly spread on social media. The CDC denied responsibility.
“’Emerging Infectious Diseases’ is published by CDC, but the authors are often not affiliated with CDC,” an company spokesperson told Forbes in 2023.
The rumor seems to be rising once more.
At least one TikTok account, @tomhankes3, reposted on Thursday, Jan. 8, a 2023 TikTok about it.
Even in that 2023 put up from the favored @underthedesknews account, journalist and podcast host V Spehar did not say there was an official travel advisory. However, Spehar did warn travelers immediately after referencing Florida travel advisories, then in the news from the NAACP and Equality Florida over the state authorities’s perceived assaults in opposition to Black and LGBTQ+ individuals, which can have confused the difficulty.
The most recent case involved someone aged 80 to 84 in Leon County, the FDOH said in December.
Of the 36 people in Florida who were diagnosed with leprosy last year, the FDOH said 27 of them acquired the disease within the state. In the other nine, one was acquired in the United States outside of Florida, three were acquired outside of the U.S. and five cases are unknown.
Leprosy or Hansen’s illness has been round for hundreds of years, with the earliest identified information showing in China and India round 600 B.C. The most evident indicators, in line with the CDC, embody modifications within the pores and skin resembling discoloration or lighter patches, nodules, painless ulcers on the soles of the toes, painless swelling or lumps on the face or earlobes, lack of eyebrows or eyelashes, or areas of thick, stiff, or dry pores and skin.
If left untreated, leprosy can lead to nerve damage, paralysis of the hands and feet, shortening of toes and fingers, chronic non-healing ulcers on the feet, blindness, nose disfigurement and more.
Leprosy is easily curable with a combination of antibiotics for one to two years.
“People being handled for Hansen’s illness can stay a traditional life amongst their household and buddies and might proceed to attend work or faculty,” the CDC stated.
No, but it’s easy to see where the myth came from.
Leprosy can damage nerves in the fingers and toes, causing them to become numb, the CDC said. Injuries can go unnoticed, and permanent damage or infection can result in the loss of the digit. In extreme cases, muscles in fingers and toes can become so weak that the digits can begin to disintegrate and be reabsorbed by the body.
According to the 2023 report from dermatologists Aashni Bhukhan, DO, Charles Dunn, MD, and Rajiv Nathoo, MD, the number of reported leprosy cases nationwide has doubled over the past decade, with 159 new cases reported in the U.S. in 2020.
Nearly 70% of these new cases were reported in Florida, California, Louisiana, Hawaii, New York and Texas, and Central Florida alone accounted for nearly 20% of the total new cases in the U.S., according to data from the National Hansen’s Disease Program.
Cases in Florida dropped to 8 in 2022.
According to FDOH data:
In the ten years before that, Florida averaged 8.9 cases per year.
C. A. Bridges is a journalist for the USA TODAY Network-Florida’s service journalism Connect team. You can get all of Florida’s best content directly in your inbox each weekday day by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY.
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