A growing number of leprosy cases are being reported in association with the WuFlu vaccine.
UK researchers examined records from the Leprosy Clinic at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in London. They found that of the 52 people who went to the clinic in 2021, at least 49 were vaccinated. The study criteria included developing leprosy or a leprosy reaction within 12 weeks of receiving a dose and the person having no previous history of leprosy or a leprosy reaction.
Two people met the case definition. One developed borderline tuberculoid (BT) leprosy one week after a second dose. The other experienced a reaction 56 days after a dose. Both doses were Pfizer’s BNT162b2 vaccine. Pfizer did not respond to a request for comment.
“The development of BT leprosy and a Type 1 reaction in another individual shortly after a dose of BNT162b2 vaccine may be associated-with vaccine-mediated T cell responses,” the researchers said.
The COVID-19 vaccines can provoke a response from white blood cells, or T cells. The cells are believed to protect against COVID-19. T-cells can trigger Mycobacterium leprae, the species of bacteria that causes leprosy.
Other vaccines have been shown to trigger leprosy or leprosy reactions, including tuberculosis vaccines, and some people who receive repeated COVID-19 vaccinations have been shown to have weakened immune systems. The paper was published on Aug. 4 by PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.
The person diagnosed with leprosy is an 80-year-old man who has lived in the United Kingdom for 49 years, who might be the first person to acquire leprosy in the UK since 1954. Of the 52 people referred to the Leprosy Clinic for diagnosis and/or treatment in 2021, all but two reported their vaccination status. Of those 50, 49 were vaccinated. Five of the patients at the clinic were newly diagnosed with leprosy in 2021. Five others had a type one reaction. All were vaccinated, but just one of each category was determined to be possibly caused by a vaccine after being diagnosed within 12 weeks of vaccination. It was not clear when the other four were vaccinated.
Dr. de Barros and the other UK researchers said that doctors should be aware that COVID-19 vaccination “may cause leprosy.”
Other Cases
At least 14 other cases of leprosy or a leprosy reaction within 14 days of COVID-19 vaccination have been reported in the literature, including eight in India. The patients were all said to have eventually recovered, and some received additional vaccine doses.
In a paper published in 2021, Brazilian researchers reported two leprosy reactions called erythema nodosum leprosum after COVID-19 vaccination. They said that doctors “need to be made aware of the occurrence of erythema nodosum leprosum that may appear in patients that are vaccinated” and “have to look for the signals of active leprosy in these patients for a possible diagnose of a new case of leprosy, relapse, or reinfection.”
In December 2021, Singaporean researchers reported a new leprosy diagnosis following COVID-19 vaccination and said the problem was “likely unmasked by the COVID-19 vaccine.” Also in 2021, Indonesian researchers reported a patient who suffered a reaction after COVID-19 vaccination.
In January 2022, Indian researchers reported one leprosy reaction and said doctors should keep reactions in mind when seeing patients presenting with neurological complications. In March 2022, Israeli researchers reported a reaction and said early diagnosis and treatment were important.
In a case series published in 2022, Indian researchers reported four men who experienced leprosy or a reaction within 11 days of COVID-19 vaccination. The researchers said that the “sheer versatility of clinical presentation of leprosy reactions following COVID‐19 vaccination warrants further large‐scale molecular studies.”
In another paper from 2022, a different set of researchers reported that three of 35 patients who visited their clinic from July 2021 to December 2021 experienced a leprosy complication or a reaction shortly after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.
Meanwhile, there is an unexplained uptick in leprosy cases in the United States, with an outbreak seemingly centered in central Florida.
A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus was indignant. He reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed. Mark 1:40-42