by Amy Norton Leprosy is an ancient infectious disease, but it has not been banished to the past, or from the United States. That’s the key takeaway from a new report describing six cases of leprosy among California residents. All were diagnosed between 2017 and 2022, and all were U.S.-born—that is, not hailing from a country where...
AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY Leprosy has existed since at least Biblical times, yet scientists still don’t know exactly how Mycobacterium leprae causes the disease’s symptoms. Though antibiotics can treat the illness, researchers are concerned about the increase in drug-resistant strains. Now, a team reporting in ACS Central Science has begun to understand the unique role certain immune receptors play in leprosy infections...
M. leprae, one of the causative agents of leprosy. Credit: Public Domain Dan Izzett has lived with leprosy’s effects on his body for 70 years, and has lost much to what he calls an “ancient, fascinating, very unkind disease”. The Zimbabwean former civil engineering technician and pastor was diagnosed at the age of 25 in...
Research on LRRK2 gene in mice could lead to new treatments, prevention THE OTTAWA HOSPITAL Researchers have struggled for years to understand how mutations in one gene, called LRRK2, can increase the risk of three very different diseases: Parkinson’s (a brain disease), Crohn’s (a gut disease) and leprosy (a peripheral nervous system disease). Now, a Canadian team has found that inflammation is the likely culprit....
