AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT Supported bySKIP ADVERTISEMENT Leprosy May Be Endemic in Central Florida, Scientists Report By Apoorva MandavilliAug.... Other people have similarly become infected without obvious explanation, suggesting that leprosy is now endemic in the state, the researchers said. Their report appeared in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. Still, there is no rising tide of leprosy in Florida.... The number of cases “ is very small.” Image Leprosy, also known as Hansen

HYDERABAD, India — When Amina Begum stares at her hands, tears drop from her eyes. She’s a young woman, barely 19, but her hands have been curled by an ancient disease: leprosy. There may be no other affliction that has carried so much of a stigma across history.... The ancient Egyptians wrote about it; so did the Greeks.... It even grows its own papayas, which the staff members mush up and use to treat wounds( papaya pulp contains helpful enzymes). Many older patients don’t want to leave....