Armadillos May Spread Leprosy

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OMG NO WAY

jackie avena of NY 4:44PM April 29, 2011

Excuse me, but I ALWAYS heard that Armadillos were the primary vector for Hansens in the US??

TEsd Rosenberg of MD 5:30PM April 28, 2011

Touching the hairs along the bottom sides of the animal are the cause, not the meat. The important thing is to never touch those hairs. Most people grab the animal by the side, like one might pick up a turtle. The trick is to make certain that the hairs are never touched. So enjoy the meat but keep your hands off the hair. Wearing heavy gloves is an ideal way to pick up an armadillo.

Dr. B. Kurtin of TX 5:02PM April 28, 2011

This has been known for YEARS. Thanks for the in-depth reporting. Anyone every curious about leprosy could have read this in an encyclopedia 30 years ago... or wikipedia, as we now have.

MD of MI 3:29PM April 28, 2011

We sometimes ate fried armadillo when I was a child in Texas back in the 1950s. Guess we dodged a bullet there since we never contracted leprosy.
One childhood sport was to grab them by the tail and lift them off the ground. After lowering them back onto the ground they would dig a hole using their powerful front claws and get away from you by digging into the ground while you were holding onto their tail.
This article said that some of the leprosy victims had handled armadillos. I wonder how many of them had eaten armadillos?

John W. Bales of AL 3:28PM April 28, 2011

Well maybe someone in Connecticut reading a national online newspaper not specific to Texas DIDN'T know Armadillos carry a disease capable of being transmitted to humans?
So it was advertising space well spent I even clicked on an ad. Thanks USnews.

Realist in CT of CT 3:18PM April 28, 2011

I live in Florida and we have armadillos in our yard throughout the year..whole families of them. I've never touched one thank goodness....I had no clue you could catch leprosy from them!

eileen of FL 3:14PM April 28, 2011

Have these people been under a rock or what? This is like reporting that the sky is blue and the sea is wet. We've known these things for years. Another waste of time and money.

Elgood of TX 2:50PM April 28, 2011

We don't have armadillos where I'm from, but back in '92, I worked on a project down in Lake Charles, LA for about three weeks. Every day after work I would go to my motel, change, and go running. The road I ran on had a wide shoulder that was covered in flattened armadillos. The smell was just lovely. I noticed that there were dead armadillos beside most of the roads. One ran in front of me while I was driving one night and got thumped. I'm sure at some point I must have gotten dead armadillo juice on my shoes. Could that be a point of contact? How about scraping dead armadillo off of your car?

Bill Potrzeebie of NJ 2:38PM April 28, 2011