Leprosy cases are emerging in Los Angeles County, according to a recent study revealed in a Reuters Health report and its co-author Dr. Maria Teresa Ochoa of Keck Medical Center of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles told Reuters Health that she’s urging the public to “fight the stigma.”
Fight the stigma? It's an incredibly contagious disease, which is why prior to the era of modern medicine, infected individuals were consigned to remote "leper colonies". "Stigma" had nothing to do with it; it was a matter of public health.
An infected person can suffer mild to severe damage to the body’s “skin, nerves, and mucous membranes.” Moreover, patients can lose feeling in parts of their bodies and suffer permanent blindness.
At present, if diagnosed early on, the disease can be treated via a combination of antibiotics. Problem: an infected person may be asymptomatic for as long as five years. It's a sneaky bug.
And it loves filth.
