BACKGROUND: Leprosy, or Hansen's disease, was a major public health problem in Japan in the early 20 century. Today, the number of new cases has decreased significantly. We aimed to investigate the trends of leprosy in Japan over the past 73 years and the challenges faced in recent years.
METHODS: We assessed the data on newly registered cases of leprosy from 1947 to 2020.
RESULTS: A total of 10,796 newly registered cases of leprosy were reported during the study period, of which 7,573 were registered in mainland Japan, 2,962 in Okinawa, and 250 were of foreign origin. Most autochthonous cases were born before 1950 in mainland Japan and before 1975 in Okinawa. The number of non-autochthonous cases surpassed that of autochthonous cases in 1992. Non-autochthonous cases originated from 26 countries, especially Brazil and the Philippines. Three cases of antimicrobial resistance were detected among non-autochthonous cases since 2004.
CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that ongoing transmission of leprosy likely ceased in the 1940s in mainland Japan, and in the 1970s in Okinawa. With the recent rise of non-autochthonous cases with globalization, continuous surveillance and efforts to maintain leprosy services within the country are necessary even after reaching the state of elimination.
BT - International journal of infectious diseases : IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases C1 -https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36280096
DA - 10/2022 DO - 10.1016/j.ijid.2022.10.027 J2 - Int J Infect Dis LA - eng N2 -BACKGROUND: Leprosy, or Hansen's disease, was a major public health problem in Japan in the early 20 century. Today, the number of new cases has decreased significantly. We aimed to investigate the trends of leprosy in Japan over the past 73 years and the challenges faced in recent years.
METHODS: We assessed the data on newly registered cases of leprosy from 1947 to 2020.
RESULTS: A total of 10,796 newly registered cases of leprosy were reported during the study period, of which 7,573 were registered in mainland Japan, 2,962 in Okinawa, and 250 were of foreign origin. Most autochthonous cases were born before 1950 in mainland Japan and before 1975 in Okinawa. The number of non-autochthonous cases surpassed that of autochthonous cases in 1992. Non-autochthonous cases originated from 26 countries, especially Brazil and the Philippines. Three cases of antimicrobial resistance were detected among non-autochthonous cases since 2004.
CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that ongoing transmission of leprosy likely ceased in the 1940s in mainland Japan, and in the 1970s in Okinawa. With the recent rise of non-autochthonous cases with globalization, continuous surveillance and efforts to maintain leprosy services within the country are necessary even after reaching the state of elimination.
PY - 2022 T2 - International journal of infectious diseases : IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases TI - Hansen's disease (leprosy) in Japan, 1947-2020: An epidemiologic study during the declining phase to elimination. UR - https://www.ijidonline.com/action/showPdf?pii=S1201-9712%2822%2900565-3 SN - 1878-3511 ER -