title: Zoonotic Leprosy in the Southeastern United States.
abstract: Nine-banded armadillos (Dasypus novemcinctus) are naturally infected with Mycobacterium leprae and have been implicated in zoonotic transmission of leprosy. Early studies found this disease mainly in Texas and Louisiana, but armadillos in the southeastern United States appeared to be free of infection. We screened 645 armadillos from 8 locations in the southeastern United States not known to harbor enzootic leprosy for M. leprae DNA and antibodies. We found M. leprae-infected armadillos at each location, and 106 (16.4%) animals had serologic/PCR evidence of infection. Using single-nucleotide polymorphism variable number tandem repeat genotyping/genome sequencing, we detected M. leprae genotype 3I-2-v1 among 35 armadillos. Seven armadillos harbored a newly identified genotype (3I-2-v15). In comparison, 52 human patients from the same region were infected with 31 M. leprae types. However, 42.3% (22/52) of patients were infected with 1 of the 2 M. leprae genotype strains associated with armadillos. The geographic range and complexity of zoonotic leprosy is expanding.
authors.forename: Rahul
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.forename: Pushpendra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: W J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Loughry
authors.forename: J Mitchell
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Lockhart
authors.forename: W Barry
authors.initials: WB
authors.lastname: Inman
authors.forename: Malcolm S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Duthie
authors.forename: Maria T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Pena
authors.forename: Luis A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Marcos
authors.forename: David M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Scollard
authors.forename: Stewart T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Cole
authors.forename: Richard W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Truman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001135:Armadillos; D004197:Disease Reservoirs / Q000382:microbiology; D006801:Humans; D007918:Leprosy / Q000382:microbiology / Q000635:transmission; D008145:Louisiana / Q000453:epidemiology; D009166:Mycobacterium leprae / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D013781:Texas / Q000453:epidemiology; D015047:Zoonoses / Q000453:epidemiology*
keywords: Dasypus novemcinctus; Hansen disease; Hansen’s disease; Mycobacterium leprae; armadillos; bacteria; biomarkers; epidemiology; genotype; leprosy; nine-banded armadillo; southeastern United States; zoonoses; zoonotic leprosy