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(The leprosy bacterium is difficult to culture and armadillos have a body temperature of 34 °C (93 °F), similar to human skin.) [26] Humans can acquire a leprosy infection from armadillos by handling them or consuming armadillo meat. [27] [28] Armadillos are a presumed vector and natural reservoir for the disease in Texas, Louisiana and Florida.
Armadillos are moving into Indiana. In the southeastern U.S., they've been blamed in some cases of leprosy.
Nine-banded armadillos can carry leprosy, which can be transmitted to people, according to the Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife. Contact with armadillos should be kept to a minimum.
Infected armadillos make up a large reservoir of M. leprae and may be a source of infection for some humans in the United States or other locations in the armadillos' home range. In armadillo leprosy, lesions do not persist at the site of entry in animals; M. leprae multiply in macrophages at the site of inoculation and lymph nodes. [189]
Nine-banded armadillos in the Southeastern United States can also carry the bacteria, and gene studies have linked human infections to the leprosy strains carried by armadillos, although it’s ...
Mycobacterium leprae DNA was detected in soil from houses of leprosy patients in Bangladesh, armadillos' holes in Suriname and habitats of lepromatous red squirrels in the British Isles. [36] One study found numerous reports of leprosy cases with a history of contact with armadillos in the United States. [34]
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Florida leprosy: Armadillos carry bacteria causing Hansen's disease. Show comments. Advertisement. Advertisement.
The Andean hairy armadillo has been given a bad reputation of that with its nine-banded cousin Dasypus novemcinctus and thought to carry leprosy. [9] The main threat to this species is being hunted [10] and having its shell sold for musical instrument making, body parts for medical remedies, and for food. Others, simply are killed because they ...