For centuries, it was the conventional narrative that leprosy, also known as Hansen’s disease, was introduced into the Americas by European colonists or enslaved Africans. But a groundbreaking new study published in Science is now overturning that assumption. According to an international team of researchers, a lesser-known bacterial species, Mycobacterium lepromatosis, existed across the Americas … Continue reading Leprosy existed in the Americas long before European contact, new study reveals