Jurupa Unified School District officials received an unconfirmed report that two Indian Hills Elementary School students were diagnosed with leprosy, which prompted them to send a letter home to parents Friday, Sept. 2. Though the information has not been confirmed, said Superintendent Elliott Duchon, school district officials decided to send the letter home as a precaution.
“We wanted parents of the students to know, we wanted to get ahead of any rumors and make sure they had access to ample information,” Duchon said in a phone interview Sunday evening.
Duchon would not say where the report came from, but did clarify that it did not come from a doctor or the Riverside County Department of Health.
The letter sent home to parents included information from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services website, which says though leprosy is “feared as a highly contagious and devastating disease, it is well establish that Hansen’s disease (or leprosy) is not highly transmissible, is very treatable, and, with early diagnosis and treatment, is not disabling.”
Leprosy is transmitted through respiratory droplets, according to the website. Ninety-five percent of the world’s population is naturally immune to the disease.