Title
Zoonotic leprosy in the southeastern United States
Date Issued
01 December 2015
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Sharma R.
Singh P.
Loughry W.J.
Lockhart J.M.
Inman W.B.
Duthie M.S.
Pena M.T.
Scollard D.M.
Cole S.T.
Truman R.W.
Clínica Hattiesburg
Publisher(s)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
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.
Start page
2127
End page
2134
Volume
21
Issue
12
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Zoología, Ornitología, Entomología, ciencias biológicas del comportamiento
Biología celular, Microbiología
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-84947431476
PubMed ID
Source
Emerging Infectious Diseases
ISSN of the container
10806040
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus