Yes, an Armadillo Can Give You Leprosy

sciencehabit writes "For years, scientists have speculated that armadillos can pass on leprosy to humans, and that they are behind the few dozen cases of the disease that occur in the US every year. Now, they have evidence. A genetic study published in The New England Journal of Medicine shows that US armadillos and human patients share what seems to be a unique strain of the bacterium that causes leprosy. If an armadillo's blood 'got on my tires of my car from running [the animal] over, I would wash it down,' advises one expert. 'And I would not dig in soil that has a lot of armadillo excrement.'"

Comments

Leprosy can be cured.

[Dr.Bob,DC]

I've never run across a patient with leprosy but in The Journal of Chiropractic Medicine, I read about a person in Texas who went to her Chirporactor with leprosy sores. The Doctor performed some excellent manipulations which got the patient's nervous system in tip-top shape to battle the infection.

After intense treatments the leprosy was GONE.

Re:Leprosy can be cured.

[dkleinsc]

There's just one problem with curing leprosy: bloody do-gooders.

Re:Leprosy can be cured.

[turkeyfeathers]

Correlation does not imply causation. It could be that the patient took some effective homeopathic medicines after seeing her Chiropractor and that's what cured the leprosy.

Re:Leprosy can be cured.

[tomhudson]

I've never run across a patient with leprosy

Well, if you do, remember the advice from the article - wash your tires It's called "getting rid of the evidence.".

And if you;re in the US, run them over a few times to make sure they're really dead, and not just faking it. Your insurance rates won't go up as much if they have to pay for a funeral instead of 50 years of medical expenses.

If an armadillo's blood 'got on my tires of my car from running [the animal] over, I would wash it down,' advises one expert. 'And I would not dig in soil that has a lot of armadillo excrement.'"

So, someone needs an expert to tell them not to play in poop? Don't mothers teach their kids not to play with the "clay" in the sandbox any more?

Re:Letterman...

[swanzilla]

+1 introspective

Re:Blood on the tires?

[boristdog]

That's it, I'm not going to check the tire pressure with my mouth any more.

Cool! We've never had a chiropractic troll before

[spun]

Welcome to Slashdot, and thanks for bringing something new and original to the art of trolling! When I saw your recent chiropractic trolls, I thought you might be a flash in the pan, but now I see you are here for an extended stay. Thanks for bringing some levity into my otherwise boring day.

Re:Hellfire

[lordfoul]

Sorry, my bad