Secret leprosy infected the Americas before European arrival

New study reveals leprosy existed in the Americas before European explorers arrived

Scientists say a species of bacteria rewrites the history of when an infectious and potentially deadly disease first arrived in the Americas. And it was long before the arrival of European explorers.Researchers from the Institut Pasteur in Paris, France, with help from a U.S. university, recently announced in a news release that a second species of bacteria is also responsible for the disease known as leprosy, or Hansen's disease, in the America…

Secret leprosy infected the Americas before European arrival

European colonizers were thought to have brought leprosy to the Americas, but a new study reveals it existed there for thousands of years and was spread by a recently discovered bacteria species.