Overview
- Florida reported 17 confirmed Hansen’s disease cases so far this year and had 36 cases statewide in 2025, a rise that public health data and recent coverage describe as a modest upward trend.
- The CDC and genomic studies link some U.S. cases without travel history to nine‑banded armadillos, which naturally carry Mycobacterium leprae and can transmit it to people through direct contact or contaminated soil.
- Central Florida, particularly Brevard County, has repeatedly accounted for a large share of state and national cases, prompting investigators to consider the area a recurring hotspot or low‑level endemic zone.
- Health officials stress that leprosy is curable with modern multi‑drug antibiotics and that transmission to the general public is rare, so they recommend avoiding contact with armadillos and wearing gloves and long sleeves when gardening.
- Scientists are studying ecological factors such as expanding armadillo range and environmental reservoirs to explain rising local infections, and officials emphasize surveillance and research rather than declaring an outbreak.