Armadillos Can Transmit Leprosy

These animals are not very loved by the people, as their aspect is not a great one, but the reason why the contact should be avoided is very terrible: leprosy. The federal researchers have stated on Wednesday that the armadillos are capable to transmit leprosy to humans, and that humans should avoid these animals. It is believed that 500 years ago the European explorers who came in the United States of America infected the animals with leprosy, and now the animals are returning the favor. The experts have analyzed the genetic strings of the bacteria, and they have reached to the conclusion that in more than 30 percent of the cases the disease was transmitted by the armadillos. They analyzed 39 people who have the disease, and they discovered that they were infected with a unique strain of leprosy-causing bacteria which was present in 28 out of 33 wild armadillos.

Pushpendra Singh of Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland was the leader of the study. He said that cross-species transmissions are very rare and that people should not be too worried about it. Leprosy is rare in the United States as well, as there are about 150 new cases each year. He said that people hunt these animals, consume their meat, and use their carcasses for souvenirs. The contact should be avoided, especially the eating, because if the meat is not cooked in the proper manner, the diseases which the armadillo has can enter in the human body. The highest number of cases of people infected with leprosy is in Texas and Louisiana. These are the regions where there are large concentrations of armadillos and where people come in contact with the animals the most.

Leprosy, also known as Hansen’s disease is a terrible disease which killed lots of people in the past and which luckily isn’t very widespread nowadays. However, there are 250,000 new cases of the disease each year in the world, about 150 of them being in the United States of America. If the disease is identified very quick, there are no reasons to worry. The one who is infected receives a cure of antibiotics and then he will have to take drugs for one or two years in order to completely eliminate the disease from the body. However, in case the disease is not depicted in time, the disease can be life threatening, and it can damage the nerves. Armadillos are the only animals which get infected with this disease. The disease is caused by bacteria Mycobaterium leprae. It causes nerve damage and skin lesions.

In the past it was known for the fact that the ones who got infected with the disease were stigmatized, were sent away from the civilization, and they had to announce the people who came in their proximity that they suffered from the disease. The isolation happened in the United States of America. In 1800, one island in Hawaii, Molokai, was used as a quarantine area for the people who suffer from the disease. There are numerous places like this all over the world where the people with the disease have to stay. However, according to Singh, the disease is not contagious, and 90 percent of the people who come in contact with it, will manage to eliminate the bacteria from their bodies. Antibiotics are the best weapon against leprosy. One of the problems is the fact that even the doctors sometimes fail to recognize the disease, especially in the people who have never traveled abroad. More than 60 percent of the people who have the illness in the United States of America have either traveled, lived, or worked in countries such as India, Brazil, Africa, or the Philippines.

People often go to the doctor and tell them about their symptoms, but tell them that they did not come in contact with people infected with leprosy, or travelled to one of those countries. In that case the doctors often give them the wrong treatment. Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said that the patients who suffer from leprosy have always been a problem because it is very difficult for the doctors to give the proper diagnosis. The new study might make the job easier for the doctors, as now they will know to test the patient for leprosy bacteria if the patient lives in an area where armadillos live. Leprosy is not the only disease which jumped from the animals. The flu, the SARS, and the HIV/AIDS, one of the most destructive illnesses of all time, came from the animals as well. The experts have stated that flu jumped from migratory waterfowl, and that the transition happened hundreds of years ago.

HIV apparently came from a chimpanzee, the transition being made about 90 years ago. Dr. Fauci said that about 70 percent of the new infectious diseases have originated from the animals. The interesting thing about leprosy is the fact that humans first transmitted to animals. The disease was not present in the region which is now the United States of America until Christopher Columbus discovered it. The European settlers who carried the disease transmitted it to the animals, and now the animals transmit the disease back to the humans. Dr. Richard W. Truman, a researcher at the National Hansen’s Disease Program in Baton Rouge, La., said that it is very likely that armadillos acquired the disease from the humans. In certain regions from the United States of America, more than 20 percent of the armadillos are infected with the disease.

The armadillos can be found in various regions from the United States of America. While they are in the wild, they do not manage to live long enough to be killed by the disease. However, the animals which live in the laboratories often die from kidney or liver failure caused by the disease. The bacteria which causes the disease is very weak. In nature, it can last for about one week. However, in the humans and in the armadillos in can last much longer than that. Simply touching the armadillo won’t make one sick. It is most likely that the humans get sick because they consume the armadillo meat.

Singh and his colleagues took samples from people who were infected with the disease and who lived in the areas where there were lots of these animals. From 39 patients who lived in areas where there were lots of armadillos, 25 of them had the same leprosy strains as the animals. Singh said that people should avoid eating the meat of these animals, and that the doctors should be more aware when it comes to the disease. They should understand that not only the people who traveled abroad can get infected with the disease. He also said that the disease is not as terrible as people believe. Some were infected for more than 5 years with it until they received treatment and they did not infect anyone else. The stigma associated with the disease should be eliminated.11