I just read an article in People (the newest one) about a 15 year old girl in America that developed it! I thought it was non-existent here. It doesn’t really tell you how she may have gotten it except for something about armadillos? Why would armadillos be able to give it to you? And what is the treatment? It didn’t tell you in the People article except saying that she went through 6 months of treatment.
Leprosy (actually known as Hansen’s disease) is contagious, but very mildly so. No one knows how a person contacts Hansen’s disease, but it is thought to be contacted through nasal droplets (like the cold or the flu) A very few other animals can have leprosy. Among them are the armadillo. By the way, Hansen’s disease is easily treatable. Most people that were in Leper’s colonies actually had syphilis, which is more contagious (but only transmissible sexually.)
Wikipedia: Leprosy article
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