Another takeaway from recent reports is to tell your doctor if you suspect something is wrong.

“If you have any questions about your skin, or if you have any clinical concerns about your exposure history that make you nervous, that you could potentially have it, find your local physician, find your local dermatologist, and ask them questions and we’ll be able to answer them. But this is not something that you need to panic about. It’s not something that is spreading or rampant or anything that the population needs to be concerned about,” Dunn said.

What the numbers reveal

In 2022, 136 leprosy cases were reported in the U.S., mostly in Florida, Texas, New York, California, Arkansas, Louisiana and Hawaii, according to the most recent data available through the National Hansen’s Disease Program in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Florida recorded eight cases in 2022, or about 6% of the cases reported in the country that year, and three of those cases were in Brevard County in East Central Florida, state data shows.

In 2020, Central Florida accounted for nearly one-fifth of the 159 cases reported in the country, according to the CDC report. Florida’s Reportable Diseases Frequency Report found that of the 27 cases that year in eight counties, 20 of those were in Brevard and none in South Florida.

There are just three cases of leprosy in Florida in 2024, through March 26, out of a population of nearly 23 million people, according to U.S. Census data — one leprosy case each in Polk, Sumter and Volusia counties, all in the Central Florida region.

“There’s this common misconception within the medical community that leprosy only occurs in people that were born in countries outside the United States,” Dunn said.

The majority of cases of leprosy are diagnosed and occur outside the United States. Most cases occur in India, Brazil, Indonesia, Nepal, Bangladesh, he said.

Here’s more to know about leprosy in modern times:

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