A person living with HIV in Ohio has tested positive for the bacterium that causes leprosy, HealthDay reports. Leprosy, also known as Hansen’s disease, is extremely rare in the United States. In 2008, only 150 people contracted Hansen’s disease in the United States. People who live in Texas or Louisiana, have traveled to parts of the world where leprosy is still common, or have been exposed to armadillos are more likely to contract Hansen’s disease. The Ohio man grew up in Mississippi and hunted armadillos as a teenager and touched their carcasses. The Mycobacterium leprae bacteria incubated in his body for about 20 years and then turned up as an opportunistic infection because his body was immunosuppressed by HIV.  

To read the HealthyDay article, click here.