TB may have eradicated leprosy in Europe
TB may have eradicated leprosy in Europe
A study testing the hypothesis that immunity acquired from tuberculosis leads to cross-immunity to leprosy has been shown possible using a mathematical model.
The authors, researchers at the Center for AIDS Prevention Services in San Francisco, note that leprosy was endemic between the 11th and 13th centuries in western Europe but disappeared during the 17th and 18th century epidemic of TB.
The study, published in the December issue of American Journal of Public Health, derived conditions under which leprosy could have been eradicated by using the basic reproductive rates of the two diseases and how much cross-immunity existed. The model concluded that tuberculosis could have led to the decline of leprosy in Europe if the reproductive rate of leprosy was low.
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