What's not for dinner: Nine Banded Armadillo. Photo by http://www.birdphotos.com
Perhaps not Health Reform per se, but I guess tonight’s post could be considered somewhat of a public service announcement.
Don’t eat armadillos. And don’t touch them either.
Ok, not being a doctor, perhaps I shouldn’t be telling other people what to do from a health perspective. But adventurous as I may be from a culinary perspective, armadillo won’t be on my menu any time soon. And no, I don’t care if my extreme couponing daughter has a buy one get one free. No armadillos.
According to a recent article in The New England Journal of Medicine there is a link between frequent handling and/or the eating of armadillos and leprosy. Yes, leprosy. Known officially as Hansen’s disease and made graphically unforgettable by movies such as Papillon and Ben Hur, it can be transmitted to humans via armadillo. And apparently, there are about 150 cases reported in the U.S. each year. Though many of these cases have been contracted outside the United States and brought back as painful souvenirs from India and other warm parts of the earth, some of these cases have occurred in people who have not left the states or even been in frequent contact with someone who had. The armadillo had long been suspected, but a team of international scientists led by the National Hansen’s Disease Programs in Baton Rouge, La. found a link.
DNA samples were taken from 33 wild armadillos in Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas….
Scientists also took skin biopsies from 50 leprosy patients being treated at a Baton Rouge clinic. Three-quarters had never had foreign exposure, but lived in Southern states where they could have been exposed to armadillos.
An analysis found that samples from the patients and armadillos were genetically similar to each other and were different from leprosy strains found elsewhere in the world. The unique strain was found in 28 armadillos and 25 patients.
Of the 15 patients for whom researchers had information, seven said they had no contact with armadillos; eight said they did, including one who routinely hunted and ate them.
While the work did not document direct transmission from animal to human, “the evidence is pretty convincing that it happens,” said Dr. Brian Currie, an infectious disease expert at Montefiore Medical Center in New York, who had no role in the study.
Leprosy, it is said, is relatively difficult to catch and is treatable, especially if caught early. But in the risk/reward scheme of things, it’s difficult to imagine any situation other than imminent starvation in which eating an armadillo–or even touching them for that matter– could possibly be worthwhile.
The AP: “‘Leave the animals alone,’ advised lead researcher Richard Truman of the National Hansen’s Disease Programs.”
What's not for dinner: Nine Banded Armadillo. Photo by http://www.birdphotos.com
Perhaps not Health Reform per se, but I guess tonight’s post could be considered somewhat of a public service announcement.
Don’t eat armadillos. And don’t touch them either.
Ok, not being a doctor, perhaps I shouldn’t be telling other people what to do from a health perspective. But adventurous as I may be from a culinary perspective, armadillo won’t be on my menu any time soon. And no, I don’t care if my extreme couponing daughter has a buy one get one free. No armadillos.
According to a recent article in The New England Journal of Medicine there is a link between frequent handling and/or the eating of armadillos and leprosy. Yes, leprosy. Known officially as Hansen’s disease and made graphically unforgettable by movies such as Papillon and Ben Hur, it can be transmitted to humans via armadillo. And apparently, there are about 150 cases reported in the U.S. each year. Though many of these cases have been contracted outside the United States and brought back as painful souvenirs from India and other warm parts of the earth, some of these cases have occurred in people who have not left the states or even been in frequent contact with someone who had. The armadillo had long been suspected, but a team of international scientists led by the National Hansen’s Disease Programs in Baton Rouge, La. found a link.
Leprosy, it is said, is relatively difficult to catch and is treatable, especially if caught early. But in the risk/reward scheme of things, it’s difficult to imagine any situation other than imminent starvation in which eating an armadillo–or even touching them for that matter– could possibly be worthwhile.
The AP: “‘Leave the animals alone,’ advised lead researcher Richard Truman of the National Hansen’s Disease Programs.”