01920nas a2200217   4500000000100000008004100001260001200042653002300054653002500077653003100102653001200133653001300145100001100158700001300169245007100182856008100253300001100334490000700345520133600352022001401688       2021                            d  c01/202110aHansen’s disease10aMycobacterium leprae10aMycobacterium lepromatosis10aleprosy10azoonosis1 aDeps P1 aCollin S00a Mycobacterium lepromatosis as a Second Agent of Hansen's Disease.  uhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8461103/pdf/fmicb-12-698588.pdf  a6985880 v123 a<p> was identified as a new species and second causal agent of Hansen's disease (HD, or leprosy) in 2008, 150years after the disease was first attributed to .  has been implicated in a small number of HD cases, and clinical aspects of HD caused by  are poorly characterized. HD is a recognized zoonosis through transmission of  from armadillos, but the role of  as a zoonotic agent of HD is unknown.  was initially associated with diffuse lepromatous leprosy, but subsequent case reports and surveys have linked it to other forms of HD. HD caused by  has been reported from three endemic countries: Brazil, Myanmar, and Philippines, and three non-endemic countries: Mexico, Malaysia, and United States. Contact with armadillos in Mexico was mentioned in 2/21  HD case reports since 2008.  in animals has been investigated only in non-endemic countries, in squirrels and chipmunks in Europe, white-throated woodrats in Mexico, and armadillos in the United States. To date, there have only been a small number of positive findings in Eurasian red squirrels in Britain and Ireland. A single study of environmental samples found no  in soil from a Scottish red squirrel habitat. Future studies must focus on endemic countries to determine the true proportion of HD cases caused by , and whether viable  occurs in non-human sources.</p>  a1664-302X