In the past 60 years, the number of registered leprosy patients has decreased significantly in Wuhan, China. However, the process behind this remains unknown. Thus, the aim of this study is to analyse the spatial-temporal dynamics of leprosy in Wuhan from 1950 to 2017.

The data of leprosy patients from 1950 to 2017 in Wuhan city was downloaded from Leprosy Management Information System (LEPMIS) in China. By using Arcgis (Version 9.3) and Satscan (version 9.4), we analysed the spatialtemporal dynamics of leprosy, including multibacillary and paucibacillary types.

3655 leprosy patients including 1201 with multibacillary leprosy (32.9%) and 2454 with paucibacillary leprosy (67.1%) were enrolled in this study, which showed a significant decrease from 1950 to 2017, and marked transformation of the majority type of leprosy from multibacillary to paucibacillary (p < 0.0001) in Wuhan city. The spatial-temporal analysis of leprosy patients indicated that the distribution changed gradually from clusters in the urban areas to scattered cases in the suburban areas. There has been no cluster of leprosy patients since 2000 in Wuhan.

The results of this study suggest great changes within Wuhan, implying that within the low endemic areas of leprosy in China, the focus should be on strengthening systems for monitoring early symptoms.