At a time when the Maharashtra government and the WHO boast of how close they are to eradicating leprosy by the year 2000, a recent house-to-house survey conducted by the state has shown a sharp upswing in the number of new case. The survey conducted in January and February this year reveals that Maharashtra's leprosy graph is now revised to five per 10,000 cases, as compared to 3.9 that was estimated in 1996-97.