More than 50% of armadillos carry leprosy

Growing up in Texas we had many Armadillos running around, getting squished on the highways, and digging holes in your yard and garden. I never hunted or killed one but did grab a few by the tail .. They can burrow with their front claws about as fast as anything...

Somewhere along my life's journey I heard that Armadillos could carry leprosy so I just left them alone.. Looks like even back then (early 50s) an old wife's tale had some truth to it.

Leprosy, which is caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae, is a slowly developing chronic disease that if left untreated causes skin lesions as well as nerve damage, leading to muscle atrophy, paralysis and blindness. Recent evidence shows that it infects immune cells in the vicinity of nerve endings. The cells then destroy the protective myelin layer on the nerves and damages the nerve fibres. It is considered an infectious neurodegenerative disease.

Most people are able to swiftly fight off an M. leprae infection before leprosy can develop, but not everyone is so lucky. Over 200,000 new cases are recorded each year worldwide.

While this represents a significant decline in prevalence over the past few decades, for the endemic pockets where these cases are concentrated, the disease remains a major health concern. In 2016, 80% of all cases were found in India, Indonesia and Brazil. Currently, Brazil is the only country in the world with more than one case per 10,000 population, and many of these cases occur in the Brazilian Amazon.

cosmosmagazine.com...

a reply to: 727Sky

I ate armadillo in the Amazon rainforest one time. Prepared by a local, on a fireplace.

Man, that's the best meat I ever ate. Taste like pork but more flavor and tender.

Never seen an armadillo (never been to Amarillo, either). Scaley possum?


Leprosy (Hansen's disease) is very easily cured.

originally posted by: Trueman
a reply to: 727Sky

I ate armadillo in the Amazon rainforest one time. Prepared by a local, on a fireplace.

Man, that's the best meat I ever ate. Taste like pork but more flavor and tender.

I assume that was some time ago and certain pieces of your body has not fallen off yet !!

Yes I have heard if prepared correctly it was quite good. Many a bandit and Indians in the old days claimed without the armadillo they would have starved to death..

A 1982 vintage movie with Willie Nelson and a younger Gary Busey called Barbarosa (actually not a bad movie IMO) talked about surviving on Armadillo..youtu.be...

Sad to say we have them in northern Georgia now. Already coasted me a new tire, basterds!!!

a reply to: hillbilly4rent

Eat the suckers.

That'll teach 'em.

a reply to: 727Sky

I had to grab one that was going to walk into a door and just stay there. Hearing they are pretty timid, I didn't expect a small scaly tank to back up like a boss...

a reply to: 727Sky

Don't eat them.

a reply to: Trueman

I've eaten armadillo many times: in a roadside taco stand in Mexico, at a campfire in South Louisiana, in a friend's kitchen. Damn good meat.

a reply to: incoserv

I hear it's tasty but they carry so many diseases that I wouldn't.

a reply to: 727Sky

I was used to seeing them in Florida and was very surprised when I saw them on the side of the road in mid southern Tennessee. Apparently, from what I've read, they are thriving as far north as northern Kentucky.
The invasion is successful.

originally posted by: OccamsRazor04
a reply to: incoserv

I hear it's tasty but they carry so many diseases that I wouldn't.

Possums are nasty. I've been told by a veterinarian whom I respect that armadillos are actually very clean and that the conditions for them to carry leprosy are very narrow.

I've eaten plenty of armadillos.
Tastes like pork loin.
They are kind of a pain to clean.

I recall reading somewhere that the ability for them to carry leprosy has to do with blood flow. Lower blood flow to certain areas of their body results in a lower overall skin temperature which makes it easier for the leprosy bacteria to survive and thrive.

So, I'd likely want to avoid handling the little buggers since I have notoriously cold extremities.

But yeah, they are expanding their territory north. You can find them squashed on the roadways down around Wichita, KS.

a reply to: TNMockingbird

Well, they are certainly surviving in western Kentucky. Had the first one in my gardens this spring. Went out one morning to find the garlic patch looking like a small backhoe had gone through it. I had never seen that sort of damage before so I began to investigate. I managed to figure out that it was some critter with long claws rather than an industrious coon, possum or deer. The very next day as I headed into town there was a dead one on the highway directly north of my place. Yep, those long claws were on display.

A friend a couple of miles down the road had one that was attempting to build a burrow under her garden shed after completely ruining a couple of rows of tomatoes and peppers she had just set out. She shot it with a shotgun---pellets mostly just bounced off so the next time she caught sight of it she took an axe to it. Her account of that encounter was absolutely hilarious. She's about 5 foot nothin' and even older and skinnier than me but she had herself a mission after the varmint tried to ruin her 'maters and pepper patch.

We never had armadillos here when I was a kid so I have no knowledge of cooking them. My grandparents were big fans of possum meat. They never ate road kill possum but my grandpa and uncles would go possum hunting and capture them alive. They brought them home and put them in a cage and fed them up for a week before butchering them. My uncle did a brine soak of the meat and then cooked it on a bbq. I liked the meat that way. My grandmother baked them like a hen with cornbread stuffing and chunks of sweet potatoes ringing the carcass. I didn't care for them that way because the meat seemed really greasy to me.

Yep they are here in Georgia, had one that dug a burrow in our backyard. Drove our dog bat chit. Since it is a relatively nice neighborhood decided against shooting the lil bastard. But read somewhere that male predatory bobcat urine runs them off, so thanks to Amazon a few squirts in the burrow and around the yard no more armored possum or regular possums,squirrels ,chipmunks which our yard used to be full of.

originally posted by: Sillyolme
a reply to: 727Sky

Don't eat them.

You can eat them.

Dang I had this thing half grilled...back to burgers I guess. Just as well, smelled like Nancy Pelosi's burnt pubic hair...

a reply to: 727Sky