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."
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