Pattern of leprosy in Queensland, Australia, 1855-1990

Abstract

Leprosy was first diagnosed in Queensland in 1855. From then until 1990, 929 patients with the disease were notified. The pattern of notification has varied with the passage of time, and with the changing pattern of migration into Queensland. In the early days, Chinese, Melanesians and Caucasians featured prominently. The first Aboriginal notification was in 1892. In the latter part of this century, significant numbers of Torres Strait Islanders and migrants from South East Asia have been recorded. Among Caucasians, the incidence peaked in the decade 1931-1940, although the prevalence rate in this population remains much higher than in Caucasians. The control of leprosy is at a high level in Queensland today, but there is a continuing low level of new case reporting, many of them imported.