--- title: California Elementary School Student Diagnosed With Leprosy description: The disease is very rare in the U.S. canonical: https://time.com/4505741/california-child-student-leprosy/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-23T14:47:42.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T00:47:38.727Z article:section: Health og:title: California Elementary School Student Diagnosed With Leprosy og:description: The disease is very rare in the U.S. og:url: https://time.com/4505741/california-child-student-leprosy/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: California Elementary School Student Diagnosed With Leprosy twitter:description: The disease is very rare in the U.S. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # California Elementary School Student Diagnosed With Leprosy  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Sep 23, 2016 2:47 PM UTC  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Sep 23, 2016 2:47 PM UTC An elementary-age child in California has been diagnosed with a rare case of leprosy. [The Associated Press reports](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/0e5778b7ff8a454cbcaa31710f46eead/leprosy-found-california-elementary-school-student) that one child from Indian Hills Elementary School in Jurupa Valley was diagnosed with the disease this week. The student is not being identified. The U.S. only sees about 150 leprosy cases each year and 95% of the population is naturally immune to it. Now health officials are trying to educate worried citizens about how difficult it is to transmit the illness. Leprosy, also known as Hansen’s disease, can only be passed through prolonged contact, not through quick contact like handshakes. It is also treatable with antibiotics. “It is incredibly difficult to contract leprosy,” said Dr. Cameron Kaiser, Riverside County’s public health officer, according to the AP. “The school was safe before this case arose and it still is.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4505741/california-child-student-leprosy/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4505741/california-child-student-leprosy/"},"headline":"California Elementary School Student Diagnosed With Leprosy","datePublished":"2016-09-23T14:47:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T00:47:38.727Z","description":"The disease is very rare in the U.S.","url":"https://time.com/4505741/california-child-student-leprosy/","keywords":["Disease","California"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/disease/","name":"Disease"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4505741/california-child-student-leprosy/","name":"California Elementary School Student Diagnosed With Leprosy"}}]}] ```