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

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:Letterman...

[swanzilla]

+1 introspective

Re:Leprosy can be cured.

[Mojofreem]

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

Hellfire

[aapold]

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

Re:Hellfire

[lordfoul]

Sorry, my bad

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.