![]() Surveys of armadillos in the Gulf states found that up to 20 percent were infected with M. Exactly how the armadillos became infected by humans is not clear, but one theory is that they picked it up from contaminated soil by digging. ![]() Analysis of archived serum samples for antibodies specific for the bacterium indicated that animals from this area had likely been infected since the 1960’s. Shortly after this, she and her team discovered that armadillos living in the wild in Texas and Louisiana were naturally infected by M. leprae experimentally eventually came down with symptoms of leprosy, even having the same skin lesions and nerve damage found in human cases. Eleanor Storrs found that armadillos infected with M. In late 1940s, another group of armadillos escaped from captivity in central Florida and spread throughout Florida, eventually merging with the Texan armadillos in the early 1970s in the Florida Panhandle.Īround this time, Dr. These armadillos first extended their range from Mexico into Texas around the 1850’s and then went north and east into the Gulf states of the southern U.S. or chicken-armadillo in Brazil, is the only species whose range includes North, Central and South America. It is is spread mainly by aerosol infection, or coughing and sneezing, from human to human.ĭasypus novemcinctus, commonly known as the nine-banded armadillo in the U.S. Leprosy, also called Hansen’s disease, is caused by infection by the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae, causing skin lesions, nerve damage, disfigurement and disability, leading to social stigmatization common to people with this disease. And, when the species do interact, armadillos are giving leprosy back. And while these animals are not exactly the cuddly type to which humans are drawn, armadillo-to-human contact is spreading. My studies in 2018 in a Brazilian state where the disease is prevalent shows that leprosy is closer to us than we might think, however. It’s thus only natural that many might think the disease is a relic of the past. ![]() ![]() Leprosy is an ancient disease, the oldest disease known to be associated with humans, with evidence of characteristic bone pitting and deformities found in burial sites in India as far back as 2000 B.C. ![]()
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