The nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) is currently considered an invasive species in parts of its range in the US, and this range continues to expand to the north and east. Nine-banded armadillos are one of a handful of mammals known to contract leprosy (also known as Hansen's disease); range expansion thus leads to public health concerns about whether this might increase human exposure to infected animals. We collected blood samples from 61 road-killed armadillos over two summers (2021 and 2022) in Tennessee, a US state near the northern extreme of the species' current range, and screened them for exposure to Mycobacterium leprae, the causative agent of leprosy. All animals were seronegative, providing no evidence that range expansion is increasing the distribution of leprosy in the US.
BT - Journal of wildlife diseases C1 -https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38757151
DA - 05/2024 DO - 10.7589/JWD-D-23-00163 J2 - J Wildl Dis LA - eng N2 -The nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) is currently considered an invasive species in parts of its range in the US, and this range continues to expand to the north and east. Nine-banded armadillos are one of a handful of mammals known to contract leprosy (also known as Hansen's disease); range expansion thus leads to public health concerns about whether this might increase human exposure to infected animals. We collected blood samples from 61 road-killed armadillos over two summers (2021 and 2022) in Tennessee, a US state near the northern extreme of the species' current range, and screened them for exposure to Mycobacterium leprae, the causative agent of leprosy. All animals were seronegative, providing no evidence that range expansion is increasing the distribution of leprosy in the US.
PY - 2024 T2 - Journal of wildlife diseases TI - Seroprevalence of Leprosy in Nine-Banded Armadillos (Dasypus novemcinctus) from Tennessee, USA, 2021-22. SN - 1943-3700 ER -