# M. Leprae and armadillos

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-leprae-and-armadillos/580381>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 1, 2011, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-leprae-and-armadillos/580381 "2011-05-01T14:54:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\
**Post date:** [May 1, 2011, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-leprae-and-armadillos/580381/1 "2011-05-01T14:54:04Z")

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Back in the 70’s, in another career/life, I worked in a lab doing basic research on M. Leprae - including some work with armadillos. If anyone here subscribes to the NEJM, I have a question for you.

A recent [publication](http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1010536) supports amadillos as a probable reservoir for human infection.

I have a question for any dopers who can read more than the abstract. What do the authors have to say about this zoonotic infections in armadillos outside the southern US? Do they discuss the possibility of a link to the [research](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leprosy#Mycobacterium_leprae) done by Eleanor Storrs and others at the Gulf South Research Institute? I recall rumors about the escape of test animals. One has to wonder if this ‘natural’ source of leprosy in armadillos might in fact be tied to the research done in the 1970’s.