Nine-banded armadillos believed to have caused LEPROSY in Florida patients

UK DailyMail ^ | 28 February 2015 | Christopher Brennan

[LucyT]

Three people have been diagnosed with leprosy in Florida and some of the cases are thought to be linked to armadillos.

Health officials in Volusia County said that the cases are not related, though two of those who have been diagnosed with Hansen’s disease, or leprosy, since October had been in contact with nine-banded armadillos.

[Delta 21]

That there just aint right.

[null and void]

Do you know why the Beatles never played at a leper colony?
Lend me your ear and i'll sing you a song..."

Should that be Jethro Tull?

Or was that:
Lend me your ears and I'll call you a fool..."

[Vesparado]

Used to see them by Texas roadsides reclining back against fence posts and passed out holding empty bottles of Lone Star long-neck beer in their laps. Apparently they just loved the stuff.

[Vesparado]

Used to see them by Texas roadsides reclining back against fence posts and passed out holding empty bottles of Lone Star long-neck beer in their laps. Apparently they just loved the stuff.

[familyop]

Wow. Armadillos in MO? I remember when those big Japanese roaches made it up to SW MO during the warm ‘90s but moved away before seeing an armadillo.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

They make a nice murse (map purse) for Scottish, skirt-wearing FReepers...

[Cold Heart]

I like gator. Looking forward to a hunt some day.

[LucyT]

Nine-banded armadillos believed to have caused LEPROSY in Florida patients

About 1/3 of the 150-250 leprosy cases in the US each year are from armadillos.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/28/health/28leprosy.html?_r=0

"True Facts about Armadillos" can be found on YouTube. No link to the x-rated video.

Thanks, anonymous.

[Redcitizen]

There’s a song about them:

Armadillo by mornin’

Up from San Antone

Everything that I got

Is just what I’ve got on....

[SWAMPSNIPER]

You've got to practice saying CHOOT HIM ELIZABETH!

[matthew fuller]

"as enough people eat the critters, viruses and assorted pathogens will cross over into the human population. "

That's why we invented cooking...

[Myrddin]

My undergraduate lab had pretty "mint green" agar slants with waxy, orange colonies of M. tuberculosis. Handled with much care under the vent hood and with a nice electric incinerator for the needles in place of flaming in a Bunsen burner.

[Kenny Bunk]

Back in Depression I, people were forced to live in "Hoovervilles," and armadillos, then called "Hoover Hogs" were a menu staple.

It is only fair that in the midst of Depression II, that armadillos (the other red meat) now be called "Obama Hogs." They can be found in foreclosed subdivisions called "Obamavilles."

[LucyT]

I thought you were making up “Hoover Hogs” until a search confirmed your post. My apology for doubting you.

[Cold Heart]

I am unfamiliar with “mint green” and slants.

I also need to quit calling it agar agar. People think I came from a primitive society where plural expression is a little more well, primitive.

[Kenny Bunk]

I am shocked, Lucy. Shocked, I tell you about your defection, albeit it temporary, from the ranks of my faithful readers.

Of course, you are forgiven.

[Myrddin]

The medium is Lowenstein-Jensen. I remembered it from grad school as the pale green media in test tubes poured and set on a slant to increase the surface area. I found a supplier for the media at link with pictures that match what I used in grad school. I'm nearly 40 years past grad school now and handling M. tuberculosis is now rated as a BSL 2 or BSL 3 activity. Our school labs were really not built to those standards in the mid-70's.

[SaraJohnson]

Never saw one of those critters when I lived in Florida.

I did see gators and used to play with one. We had a pond in our yard with a baby gator. There was a big live oak next to the pond with a branch that hung over the pond. I took a fishing poll with a ping pong ball tied to it up there. I would climb the tree and cast the ball in the water, reel it in and the gator would chase it. I used to do that for hours...it was so quiet and peaceful out there.

[Cold Heart]

Thanks. I got to thinking about it and did recall mention of the slant test tubes in biology 101, 50 years ago. I took a microbiology course about 4 years ago and we used only the petri dishes & standard agar.

I feel like making ice cream now.

[Smokin' Joe]

Leprosy ping...