While studying pathogenic bacteria at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, I was taught that armadillos could carry leprosy naturally. Bets are the entire subject is up for discussion.
When we lived in western Tennessee, our wildlife officers told us to be careful of handling armadillos because of this.
The more I researched this, the more it became obvious that they carry it....but my initial question was with regard to this *new* strain of leprosy.