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Wild can therefore be a source of the disease. Eating armadillo in Brazil is associated with an additional risk of leprosy, an infectious bacterial disease that damages the skin and nerves. Antibiotics "The World Health Organization wants to fight leprosy by treating all patients who are near a patient with antibiotics," says Geluk. But if it manages to eliminate leprosy in humans, the disease can also disappear in armadillos. Happiness is working in Leiden on a new diagnostic test for leprosy. Brazil is after India the country where leprosy is still the most prevalent, with more than 25,000 new infections a year. They found that people who reported having at least once a month a nine-band armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) had significantly more antibodies against the leprosy bacteria in their blood. This is a test that detects antibodies, which should help to know if humans or armadillos have been in contact with leprosy bacteria. A team of researchers, including immunologist Annemieke Geluk of the LUMC in Leiden, wrote in PLOS on Neglected Tropical Diseases and investigated 146 inhabitants of Belterra, in the state of Pará, to the northeast from Brazil. Cooking probably kills the bacteria. Previously, the US states of Florida and Louisiana have already shown that hunters are sometimes infected with leprosy bacteria derived from armadillos. "Eating armadillos is officially banned in Brazil, but because of poverty, many people do it.There are 16 wild armadillos infected by ten people infected with leprosy.They are not aware of the risk of leprosy. Leprosy never introduced to South America by settlers from Europe wrote one of the co-authors, Stewart Cole, in a previous article .The transfer of the bacteria can take place during the first year. However, the researchers report that the raw armadillo liver, mixed with shredded onions, is a delicacy in the region. "But that does not take into account other sources that can also contribute to dissemination, as we have shown in this study. Incidentally, most people are infected with regular, intensive contact with untreated patients. And it is precisely the liver that contains a high concentration of leprosy bacteria. "From the man, the bacteria is transferred to the armadillo," says Geluk. "And I think people and armadillos are now infecting themselves again and again.
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