Fears ancient disease that killed millions could break out

The biblical disease leprosy, which causes painful skin lesions and nerve damage, could re-emerge in Australia, experts have warned. 

Around 400 people a year are diagnosed with the disease in Papua New Guinea (PNG).

For more than 30 years Torres Strait Islander Australians and PNG nationals have been allowed to move freely across the border and doctors fear the disease could spread.

Leprosy has killed millions of people worldwide but has been wiped out in most western countries. 

Doctors based at the Thursday Island Hospital, in Queensland, carried out research into the disease to see if there was any direct risk to Australians.

The research team, led by Dr Alison Hempenstall reviewed all laboratory-confirmed cases diagnosed in far north Queensland between 1989 and 2018.  

‘Since 1985, Torres Strait Islander Australians and PNG nationals have been able to move freely across the border to pursue traditional activities in the Torres Strait Protected Zone,’ Hempenstall and her colleagues wrote. 

‘This arrangement acknowledges the importance of their shared cultural history, but the potential public health implications are also clear’.

There were 20 cases of leprosy recorded in the Queensland Health Notifiable Conditions Register during the study period. 

Eleven patients were born in Australia, including seven Torres Strait Islanders. 

There were no cases among Aboriginal Australians.

A 28-year-old Torres Strait Islander woman diagnosed in 2009 was the most recent Australian-born case. 

She had had close contact with a person with leprosy born in PNG.

‘While there has been no case of locally acquired leprosy since 2009, two PNG-born Torres Strait Islanders have been diagnosed with the disease in the past decade. 

Around 400 people a year are diagnosed with the disease in PNG – and the number has not reduced over the past decade (stock image)

‘The continuous flow of people between Australia and PNG makes ongoing vigilance essential,’ the letter says. 

The researchers conclude that more could be done to help PNG.

They said giving more aid would protect Torres Strait Islanders and north Queenslanders from any spreading, according to research from James Cook University in Queensland. 

Australia will provide an estimated $608 million to PNG during 2019–20, but researchers writing in the Medical Journal of Australia say more should be done.

‘Helping to reduce leprosy in Papua New Guinea will not only help our closest neighbour, but also stop the spread of the infectious disease through Far North Queensland,’ the research letter says.  

‘Greater support… will reduce the risk of reappearance of infectious diseases – like leprosy – that have been almost forgotten by Australians.’ 

A 28-year-old Torres Strait Islander woman diagnosed in 2009 was the most recent Australian-born case (stock image)