Global Leprosy Status in 2020: Still Losing Touch
Carlos Franco‐Paredes, Griselda Montes de Oca Sánchez, Cassandra White
Abstract
Leprosy, also known as Hansen's Disease, is one of the oldest diseases that has afflicted humanity. It has been described in ancient Egyptian and Indian texts dating 600 BCE. ecent comparative genomic and phylogeographic analysis of Mycobacterium leprae has linked its molecular epidemiology to social historical events, suggesting that the global spread of leprosy is associated with migration of humans. 2 For example, leprosy arrived to the Americas with West African populations entering the New World via the transatlantic slave trade. Subsequent waves of European migration into the Americas were responsible for later introductions of Mycobacterium leprae. n 1954, the French philanthropist, Raoul Follereau, established World Leprosy Day to be observed on the last Sunday of January. As a result and with the advent of multidrug therapy (MDT) to treat leprosy, the