Re: Armadillos/leprosy

Syphilis comes to mind. What else?

On Wednesday, November 17, 2004, at 08:39 AM, Cathy Carpenter wrote:

And most of what was described in the Bible as leprosy was probably something else.
Cathy
On Tuesday, November 16, 2004, at 11:08 PM, Judy L Browning wrote:

Leprosy is now called Hanson's disease in research, etc. There is treatment
to clear the bacteria from the body. I heard an interesting reference to it
a few days ago. Seems the rotting flesh, loss of body parts etc. associated
with the disease is not directly caused by the bacteria. Loss of pain
sensation from nerve damage is the real culprit. Without pain to let the
person know they have a cut or even a broken bone, the damaged area easily
becomes infected and that secondary infection is the cause of the terrible
disfiguring that caused such horror of the disease.
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Franzman" <dfranzma@pacbell.net>
To: <gardenchat@hort.net>
Sent: Tuesday, November 16, 2004 8:33 PM
Subject: Re: [CHAT] Armadillos/leprosy


Thanks for that clarification Cathy but it leads me to another question
about leprosy. We know of the leper colonies of Hawaii...I think it was
Molokai...but we never hear of the disease anymore at least I don't. Is
it
now treatable and why don't we hear of it?

DF
----- Original Message -----
From: "Cathy Carpenter" <cathy.c@insightbb.com>
To: <gardenchat@hort.net>
Sent: Tuesday, November 16, 2004 3:13 PM
Subject: Re: [CHAT] Armadillos


Just had to set the record straight on armadillos and leprosy. Yes,
armadillos, because of their low body temperature, have been used to
culture Mycobacterium leprae (Leprosy is caused by a bacterium, related
to
the bacteria that causes tuberculosis, not a virus). Because the
bacterium
has not been able to be grown in artificial culture, the sole source of
the germ for study has been the nine banded armadillo (and mice). Yes
there has been a lot of "buzz" on the possible transmission of the
bacterium from the armadillo to humans, but to my knowledge, the only
documented transmission has been related to oral consumption of
undercooked armadillo meat. Leprosy, despite its horrendous biblical
reputation (most of which was not related to the disease), is very
difficult to contract. There is documented evidence that people have
lived
for years in close proximity (ie. marriage) to people with the disease
and
have never "caught" it. The lowly nine banded armadillo should be
recipient of our gratitude rather than our prejudice...at least as far
as 
health research is concerned.
Cathy
On Tuesday, November 16, 2004, at 09:35 AM, Jesse Bell wrote:

I truly do not like armadillos. Did you know they carry the leprosy
virus? And they do jump...and squeak...and they don't see well at night
(that's why you see so many dead ones on the road). When I chased one
with a broom (in New Orleans) and yelled at it...it jumped up and came
running after me. I screamed and ran. Ick. Hate 'em. The short one is
braver than me..that's for sure.

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Island Jim
Southwest Florida
27.0 N, 82.4 W
Zone 10a
Minimum 30 F [-1 C]

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