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Yes, an Armadillo Can Give You Leprosy

Posted by timothy on from the wear-a-saddle-every-time dept.

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.'"

29 of 151 comments (clear)

  1. Leprosy can be cured. by Dr.Bob,DC · · Score: 3, Funny


    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.

    --
    Chiropractic Saves Lives!
    1. Re:Leprosy can be cured. by dkleinsc · · Score: 3, Funny

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

      --
      I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
    2. Re:Leprosy can be cured. by turkeyfeathers · · Score: 5, Funny

      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.

    3. Re:Leprosy can be cured. by Mojofreem · · Score: 5, Informative

      Leprosy is caused by a bacterial infection, and is easily cured with common antibiotics.

    4. Re:Leprosy can be cured. by hedwards · · Score: 2

      Chiropractors don't work that way. They realign the spine and frequently give exercises to keep the core strong and healthy, this would be way out of their typical scope of practice. And there's little overlap there, pharmaceuticals don't solve postural problems, at best they'll loosen up a back spasm, but they definitely won't do anything for the underlying condition.

    5. Re:Leprosy can be cured. by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 2

      I'm pretty sure that we can rule out the possibility of the patient having taken an effective homeopathic medicine on grounds of internal consistency...(unless they were suffering from thirst, of course. Homeopathic medicines are overpriced for that affliction; but efficacious).

    6. Re:Leprosy can be cured. by Desler · · Score: 2

      Many offer courses discussing the dangers of vaccines and autism.

      So they are quacks, then, right? Did you miss the memo about how that study that was linking vaccines to autism was a complete fraud?

      An investigation published by the British medical journal BMJ concludes the study's author, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, misrepresented or altered the medical histories of all 12 of the patients whose cases formed the basis of the 1998 study -- and that there was "no doubt" Wakefield was responsible.

    7. Re:Leprosy can be cured. by snowgirl · · Score: 4, Informative

      Mod parent up. Leprosy is no longer an issue. Antibiotics FTW.

      Not only this but leprosy is like the bitch version of a bacterial infection. Most of the time, you have to be predisposed to being able to acquire it anyways (or immunocompromised, but that's true with any bacteria/fungus/virus). It's basically somewhere around 10% of the population that can actually acquire leprosy... everyone else could pretty much walk hand in hand with a leper and never catch a thing.

      --
      WARNING! This girl exceeds the MAXIMUM SAFE standards established by the FDA for BRATTINESS
    8. Re:Leprosy can be cured. by tomhudson · · Score: 4, Funny

      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?

    9. Re:Leprosy can be cured. by ShakaUVM · · Score: 2

      >>I hear witchdoctors have a success rate equal to chiropractors.

      Can witch doctors cure back pain?

      Because Chiros are actually really good at that. It's just all the other, vaguely related stuff that is nonsense. But when a dickhead in jiu-jitsu knocked my vertebrae out of alignment (sideways), I could barely stand up until a Chiropractor fixed it.

    10. Re:Leprosy can be cured. by sjames · · Score: 2

      Many of the conditions aren't skeletal at all. The digestive tract for example seems to be especially vulnerable to chronic issues caused by nerve irritation or compression. Conventional western medicine seems to be particularly bad at correctly diagnosing those conditions. However, you're quite right that none of them are viral or bacterial diseases.

      A holistic approach does suggest that if the patient suffers chronic pain or disruption of the sympathetic nervous system, they may also have immune suppression and a susceptibility to infection secondary to that, and that is most likely why some percentage of the population swears chiropracty can cure infection. However, that's quite different from treating primary infection or even acutely treating secondary infection. For that, you need antibiotics.

      The good news with leprosy is that we now know a combination of drugs with a 100% cure rate.

    11. Re:Leprosy can be cured. by tomhudson · · Score: 3, Interesting

      everyone else could pretty much walk hand in hand with a leper and never catch a thing.

      ... one good sneeze and they can catch all sorts of flying body parts ...

      Seriously, "only" 10% are at risk? 10% is HUGE!

      And on the not-so-serious side ...

      Q. Why do lepers make such lousy poker players?
      A. They have to quit after they've thrown in their hands.

      Q. What's small and green and sheds it's skin?
      A. A leper-chaun.

      Q. What do you call 10 lepers in a hot tub?
      A. Oatmeal.

      Thank you, thank you ... try the fish.

    12. Re:Leprosy can be cured. by Compaqt · · Score: 2

      Well, if you ever do run across a patient with leprosy, I hope you wash your tires off.

      --
      I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the Internet. Blog
    13. Re:Leprosy can be cured. by kmoser · · Score: 2

      I'll bet she got a prescription for Placebomoxin. That stuff can cure anything. Who says Big Pharma is all bad?

  2. Letterman... by matty619 · · Score: 2

    Had Jack Hanna on the other night, Jack brought out an Armadillo and mentioned something out this. Not sure why I bothered to post this.

    1. Re:Letterman... by swanzilla · · Score: 5, Funny

      +1 introspective

      --
      0 = 1 + e^(Alt something)
  3. Re:Blood on the tires? by turkeyfeathers · · Score: 2

    Ah, you misread the quote. When he said "If an armadillo's blood got on my tires of my car from running [the animal] over, I would wash it down", the "it" referred to the armadillo and not the car tire. He was suggesting you wash off the armadillo before eating it which is good advice for any roadkill.

  4. Re:Blood on the tires? by bmo · · Score: 2

    >He's never had to change a tire in his life where he didn't have washing facilities. Or even change a tire from the looks of the message.

    I don't know about you, but when I have to change a tire, it's never in a convenient place where I can wash up. It's always out in the middle of nowhere.

    Couple this with the incredible number of times we all touch our faces per hour unconsciously, and yep, you've got a vector.

    --
    BMO

  5. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 2

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  6. Re:Blood on the tires? by boristdog · · Score: 4, Funny

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

  7. Hellfire by aapold · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Damn you Lord Foul! Must you corrupt these beautiful creatures and turn them into servants of despite?

    --
    "Waste not one watt!" - CZ
    1. Re:Hellfire by lordfoul · · Score: 5, Funny

      Sorry, my bad

  8. Cool! We've never had a chiropractic troll before by spun · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.

    --
    - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
  9. Re:Cool! We've never had a chiropractic troll befo by spun · · Score: 2

    It's actually pretty funny. Slashdot is one of the more rational and skeptical sites on the Internet. Almost anyplace else, you would get an almost equal number of believers defending the guy. There really are few places less inviting to a real chiropractor. He gives a few hints as to his true nature, I especially like "Subluxations are worse than cancer." Hahaha, oh, that's rich. Unless you really have cancer, in which case I imagine it must feel fairly insulting. "Sorry to hear about your pinched nerve, dude, now pass me my fucking wig, I'm done throwing up."

    --
    - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
  10. Vectors (and a link to an older article) by eleuthero · · Score: 2

    Washing off the tire would be a good idea because the bacteria survives well, particularly in soil/sand/etc. If you run over the armadillo and then park in your garage, there's a good chance the little m. leprae are going to still be alive. Washing the tire off won't remove that possibility entirely, but it will get rid of most of them, reducing your risk significantly. And even if they do have a cure, I'd hate to have symptoms (irreversible) before they realized the need for treatment.

    More importantly, this is fairly old news: Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

  11. Re:Conspiracy by eleuthero · · Score: 2

    The main risk is actually for those who have (1) eaten armadillo, (2) lived in Mexico proper, and (3) also eaten rabbit from Mexico. Why are these three connected? I have no idea, but http://www.ajtmh.org/cgi/content/full/78/6/962 offers more info.

  12. Re:Cool! We've never had a chiropractic troll befo by Mindcontrolled · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Slashdot is one of the more rational and skeptical sites on the Internet.

    Have you any idea how much it scares me that this is true?

    --
    Ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.
  13. Re:Blood on the tires? by plover · · Score: 3, Informative

    >He's never had to change a tire in his life where he didn't have washing facilities. Or even change a tire from the looks of the message.

    I don't know about you, but when I have to change a tire, it's never in a convenient place where I can wash up. It's always out in the middle of nowhere.

    Couple this with the incredible number of times we all touch our faces per hour unconsciously, and yep, you've got a vector.

    --
    BMO

    On several occasions that I can remember when I've had to change a tire on the road, I've banged up my knuckles on something or other while loosening the lug nuts, or cut myself on some sharp bit of metal while raising the vehicle with the jack. There's reason enough to not want to have known pathogens hanging around your fenders.

    --
    John
  14. Re:Blood on the tires? by bmo · · Score: 2

    >fix-a-flat can

    Just so you know, unless you specifically buy the non-flammable fix-a-flat, you have filled your tire with a fire/explosion hazard. You are supposed to tell your mechanic that you used a fix-a-flat can so he can purge the tire with air a few times before unmounting the tire.

    I've always been diligent about this after a friend/mechanic yelled at me for not telling him.

    --
    BMO