During a September 20 discussion on 630 KHOW-AM's The Peter Boyles Show about “illegal immigration of people from around the world to the U.S. who are coming with diseases,” guest Dr. Patricia Doyle told listeners people “com[e] here for treatment for leprosy because they know as soon as they come into the U.S. and they're found to have leprosy, they are going to be able to go for treatment.” Doyle then falsely asserted, “We once had 900 cases in 40 years -- the U.S. had 900 leprosy cases. In three years, recently -- for three years -- we've had 7,000 cases.” In fact, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), “200-250 new cases” of the disease are reported in the United States each year.

Later in her conversation with Boyles, Doyle offered a “solution” for replacing illegal immigrants who are hired “to go pick the fruit.” Doyle asked, “How about using people that are mildly retarded, who people do not wish to hire, and who are really just sitting in workshops stuffing cotton into bottles and the other group's taking cotton out of bottles?” She added, “Let's put them to work picking. They would love that.”

In making her false claim about leprosy rates, Doyle apparently was referring to reported cases of Hansen's disease, which, according to HHS, is “erroneously associated with biblical leprosy.” Contrary to Doyle's claim that “in 40 years” there were “900 cases” but in “three years” there have been “7,000 cases,” according to a New York Times report from February 18, 2003, “While there were some 900 recorded cases in the United States 40 years ago, today more than 7,000 people have leprosy, or Hansen's disease, as it is now called.”

Further, HHS's Hansen's disease “Frequently Asked Questions” webpage states that there are a total of “approximately 6,500” registered cases in the United States and that 200-250 new cases [are] reported to the registry annually" [emphasis added]:

In the United States there are approximately 6,500 cases on the registry which includes all cases reported since the registry began and still living. The number of cases with active disease and requiring drug treatment is approximately 600. There are 200-250 new cases reported to the registry annually with about 175 of these being new cases diagnosed for the first time.

Similarly, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated in a June 16, 2006, report, “Summary of Notifiable Diseases -- United States, 2004,” that "[t]he number of reported cases of Hansen disease (HD) in the United States peaked at 361 in 1985 and has declined since 1988."

Doyle's false claim that as a result of illegal immigration, there have been 7,000 new cases of leprosy in the U.S. over the past three years echoes similar distortions in other conservative news outlets. A May 22, 2005, article published by the right-wing news website World Net Daily stated:

“Americans should be told that diseases long eradicated in this country -- tuberculosis, leprosy, polio, for example -- and other extremely contagious diseases have been linked directly to illegals,” Rep. J.D. Hayworth, R-Ariz., told the Business Journal of Phoenix. “For example, in 40 years, only 900 persons were afflicted by leprosy in the U.S.; in the past three years, more than 7,000 cases have been presented.”

In a letter to The Washington Times published September 5, 2003, Frosty Wooldridge, a U.S. Army Medical Service Corps officer and author from Louisville, Colorado, stated: “How about diseases? Try 7,000 new cases of leprosy in three years that have crossed over from Mexico, India and Brazil.” Wooldridge further wrote in a “speakout” column titled, “Disease Creeps in Along with Illegals,” published in the September 29, 2003, Rocky Mountain News:

In the past 40 years, the US incidents of leprosy stood at 900 recorded cases. Today because of massive immigration from Third World countries, we have more than 7,000 people suffering with leprosy, “And those are the ones we know about,” said Dr. John Levis, physician at Bellevue Hospital's Hansen's Disease Clinic in New York. “There are probably many, many more and they are spreading.”

Doyle's false claim also marks the latest instance in which Boyles hosted a guest who made false claims regarding illegal immigrants and the spread of disease or pests. As Colorado Media Matters noted, MSNBC political analyst and former Republican and Reform Party presidential candidate Pat Buchanan falsely claimed on Boyles's September 5 broadcast that “clearly the illegal aliens” were responsible for infestations of bed bugs “in 26 states.”

From the September 20 broadcast of 630 KHOW's The Peter Boyles Show:

CALLER: You know, my husband and I do a lot of work on the road and so we eat out a lot. And I've noticed a growing -- wherever restaurant we go, doesn't seem to matter what type of restaurant -- there's always Hispanics working in the kitchen. And the more I've listened this morning, the more I'm wondering, are we positive that these owners of these restaurants are requiring these people to get this hepatitis testing before they're allowed to cook the food in these restaurants?

DOYLE: No, I can answer that. And we really need to come up with a solution to this, because if we just banter this around -- we find the origin, let's say on the farm -- nobody checked it to see if it's the same strain that originated in Mexico a year ago -- sure, that will end, everything quiets down and we go back to business as usual. We need a solution. First of all, I'd like to see someone of -- who came to the U.S. as an immigrant -- legal immigrant -- come front row and center and get involved in this issue so that it's not white America, racist, so to speak. We must let people know that this is an issue that is not just against Mexico; this is about illegal immigration of people from around the world to the U.S. who are coming with diseases.

Do you know that there are people now coming in from India, Brazil, Mexico, into Texas and Louisiana, with leprosy? They're coming here for treatment for leprosy because they know as soon as they come into the U.S. and they're found to have leprosy, they're going to be able to go for treatment here. We once had 900 cases in 40 years -- the U.S. had 900 leprosy cases. In three years, recently -- for three years -- we've had 7,000 cases.

BOYLES: Wow, I didn't know that.

DOYLE: And there is a colony -- I've heard of one in Louisiana.

BOYLES: Yeah, there is one in Louisiana, and there's one in Hawaii also.

DOYLE: OK, and I did hear from someone in Texas that they are building a leper colony in Texas.

BOYLES: Oh my god.

DOYLE: And you know, until we do something and stop calling each other racists -- I have no grudge against any race -- what I have a problem with is people who subvert our laws, sneak in from Germany, or anyplace in the world.

BOYLES: But doctor, it's Peter; but they only can do this with the allowance of this administration, politicians and others.

DOYLE: Exactly. And with the people that hire them; they are looking to save pennies. I have another solution. You need people to go pick the fruit? How about using people that are mildly retarded, who people do not wish to hire, and who are really just sitting in workshops stuffing cotton into bottles and the other group's taking cotton out of bottles? Let's put them to work picking. They would love that.

BOYLES: Yeah, there's all kind -- Debbie thank you.