In this episode of “Answers From the Lab,” host Bobbi Pritt, M.D., chair of the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at Mayo Clinic, is joined by Nancy Wengenack, Ph.D., director of the Mycology and Mycobacteriology Laboratories at Mayo Clinic, to talk about leprosy and why it’s been in the news recently. Leprosy, also known as Hansen’s disease, is a rare infectious disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae.

Specific topics of discussion include:

• How leprosy is transmitted, detected, diagnosed, and treated.
• Challenges that healthcare professionals face in identifying leprosy.
• Debunking leprosy myths.

Podcast episode

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Podcast episode in video format

Answers from the Lab is a Mayo Clinic Laboratories curated podcast sharing knowledge and advancements regarding the state of testing, laboratory science, and the people who make it all happen behind the scenes. 

Information in this post was accurate at the time of its posting.