01921nas a2200301   4500000000100000008004100001260001300042653001200055653001500067653002000082653002700102653002300129653001100152653001200163653002500175653002000200653001300220100001500233700001500248700001400263245003300277856004100310300001100351490000700362050001600369520122000385022001401605       1992                            d  c1992 Sep10aAnimals10aArmadillos10aCercocebus atys10aDisease Models, Animal10aDisease Reservoirs10aHumans10aleprosy10aMycobacterium leprae10aPan troglodytes10aZoonoses1 aMeyers W M1 aGormus B J1 aWalsh G P00aNonhuman sources of leprosy.  uhttp://ila.ilsl.br/pdfs/v60n3a19.pdf  a477-800 v60  aMEYERS 19923 a<p>Our findings establish that there are known extrahuman reservoirs of M. leprae in three animal species. There is considerable evidence that the armadillo plays a role in the epidemiology of leprosy in humans in Texas and Louisiana. The elimination of leprosy as a public health problem (defined by the World Health Organization as one active patient per 10,000 population) may be attainable by the wide application of current control measures; however, the ultimate eradication of leprosy must take into account extrahuman reservoirs of M. leprae. The impact that attempts to control or to eliminate leprosy in such reservoirs (e.g., the armadillo in Louisiana and Texas) would have on environmental and wild-life considerations would be profound. Whether or not similar situations prevail in other leprosy-endemic geographic areas is not known. Based on the armadillo experience, there seems to be ample justification for undertaking, forthwith, carefully designed surveys for enzootic leprosy in some of the major endemic areas of leprosy. At the current state of our knowledge of the subject, such surveys should be initiated in the natural habitats of the mangabey monkey and chimpanzees--in West Africa.</p>  a0148-916X