Armadillos spreading Leprosy?

Recently, patients have been found with the same strain of bacteria, Mycrobacterium leprae, that is known to be carried by the nine-banded armadillo. For many years, doctors and researchers have thought that there was some animal-human passage of the disease, but until recently, there hasn't been much to back up the accusations.

It was reported that most people in the Deep South that contracted leprosy got it while they were close to home, where the disease is less prevalent. Some also had direct contact with armadillos.

In a study done by Richard Truman, a microbiologist at Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge, compared 50 strains of bacteria from patients and 33 strains from wild armadillo that live in five southern states. The strain, Mycrobacterium leprae, showed up in 28 of the 33 armadillo. And of the 29 patients that had never lived out of the United States or Mexico, 22 of them had the same strain.

In the United States, there is only the nine-banded armadillo. And anywhere from 6 - 20% of the wild population has leprosy. In South America, there are other kinds of armadillos. However, none of those are known for sure to have the leprosy bacteria.

I found this article interesting because I hadn't heard of this type of animal to human disease contraction before. Though it hasn't been confirmed, doctors are highly suspicious, and are waiting for more cases to prove the theory.