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Armadillo leprosy found in US patients: study
AFP ^ | April 27, 2011 | Kerry Sheridan

Posted on 04/27/2011 3:53:11 PM PDT by decimon

WASHINGTON (AFP) – A strain of leprosy found in armadillos has been identified in dozens of people in the southern United States, indicating the skin disease can be transmitted directly from animals to humans.

The findings are the first to confirm a long-suspected link between the disease in armadillos and humans, but are not a sign that a new epidemic is underway, researchers said.

Rather, the report published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that the disease, most often found in India, can originate in the United States and infect humans who hunt armadillo and butcher the meat.

"I'm sure it is not new. I am sure it has been there for really quite some period of time. It does not change the risk," lead study author Richard Truman of Louisiana State University told AFP.

"What we are really doing right now is being able to recognize and prove it does occur."

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Health/Medicine; Outdoors; Pets/Animals
KEYWORDS: armadillo; leprosy
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To: KantianBurke
If there is an eager market for armadillo all the while a concern over the safety of the meat, why not start an armadillo farm?

I suspect that any such eager market is a small market.

21 posted on 04/27/2011 5:05:34 PM PDT by decimon
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To: Christian Engineer Mass

“Hoover hogs.”


22 posted on 04/27/2011 5:05:47 PM PDT by donozark ("Never wound a King." Machiavelli)
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To: decimon
I was invited for a visit last year by somebody who works there. I actually met one of the former internees (an elderly black gentlemen) who was one of the patients who opted to stay, and still does some odd jobs around the museum and who makes himself available to researchers for interviews.

It's odd, because while I was there, there were photos from a leprosarium in Hawaii, and that triggered long buried memories of my aunt, a retired Army nurse, who had talked about visiting the Hawaiian leprosarium when I was a little kid. After visiting I tried to find more stuff online to read about it, but it's a phenomenon for which there is very, very little info available out there.

23 posted on 04/27/2011 5:13:02 PM PDT by Joe 6-pack (Que me amat, amet et canem meum)
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To: NYTexan; SouthTexas

Really bad news for your team NYT...


24 posted on 04/27/2011 5:13:18 PM PDT by tubebender (Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.)
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To: DeskCaptain

>> “WHO eats armadillo meat?” <<

.
People that eat Texas Chili.


25 posted on 04/27/2011 5:13:46 PM PDT by editor-surveyor (Going 'EGYPT' - 2012!)
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To: tubebender
Image and video hosting by TinyPic

Guess I'll just get drunk then...

26 posted on 04/27/2011 5:21:09 PM PDT by NYTexan
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To: editor-surveyor

Armadillos have a survival mechanism where when the see a shadow spread over them they jump as high as they can. This works for hawks but not so good when you try to straddle them on the roadway. Little known fact.


27 posted on 04/27/2011 5:27:58 PM PDT by RadiationRomeo (Step into my mind and glimpse the madness that is me)
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To: tubebender; NYTexan

This has been an accepted wives tale for as long as I can remember.

Nothing new, move along, oh and have one for me. ;)


28 posted on 04/27/2011 8:35:17 PM PDT by SouthTexas (You cannot bargain with the devil, shut the government down.)
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To: Joe 6-pack

Look up Father Damien (Now St. Damien) of Kalaupapa on Molokai. This may be what you aunt talked about.


29 posted on 04/27/2011 9:11:05 PM PDT by jonascord (The Drug War Rapes the Constitution.)
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To: decimon

From the tone of the posts here, I think the concept of a Leper Colony is joining polio in the history books. Good place for them.


30 posted on 04/27/2011 9:14:49 PM PDT by jonascord (The Drug War Rapes the Constitution.)
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To: fso301

“They tear up your lawn at night and seem to be attracted to highways.”

LOL!

SSS works real well around my neck of the woods. They never make it to the highways.


31 posted on 04/28/2011 8:08:03 AM PDT by poobear (FACTS - the turd in the punch bowl of liberal thought!)
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