Did leprosy originate in Europe?

The largest study to-date on the DNA of ancient leprosy has revealed more strains of the debilitating disease were present in Medieval Europe, than previously thought. Leprosy is one of the oldest recorded and most stigmatized diseases in human history, and these latest findings suggest an older estimated date for the disease - making it a few thousand years old. The disease was prevalent in Europe until the 16th century and is still endemic in many countries, mainly in equatorial regions between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, with over 200,000 new cases reported annually. It is caused mainly by the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae, which clusters into several strain types. Only two of these were known to be present in Medieval Europe. However a new international study shows there was much more diversity in the leprosy strains circulating in Medieval Europe. This finding, based on the sequencing of 10 new ancient genomes, from M. leprae, complicates prior assumptions about the origin and spread of the disease.