TY - JOUR
AU - Avanzi C
AU - Del-Pozo J
AU - Benjak A
AU - Stevenson K
AU - Simpson VR
AU - Busso P
AU - McLuckie J
AU - Loiseau C
AU - Lawton C
AU - Schoening J
AU - Shaw D
AU - Piton J
AU - Vera-Cabrera L
AU - Velarde-Félix JS
AU - McDermott F
AU - Gordon S
AU - Cole S
AU - Meredith A
AB - <p>Leprosy, caused by infection with Mycobacterium leprae or the recently discovered Mycobacterium lepromatosis, was once endemic in humans in the British Isles. Red squirrels in Great Britain (Sciurus vulgaris) have increasingly been observed with leprosy-like lesions on the head and limbs. Using genomics, histopathology, and serology, we found M. lepromatosis in squirrels from England, Ireland, and Scotland, and M. leprae in squirrels from Brownsea Island, England. Infection was detected in overtly diseased and seemingly healthy animals. Phylogenetic comparisons of British and Irish M. lepromatosis with two Mexican strains from humans show that they diverged from a common ancestor around 27,000 years ago, whereas the M. leprae strain is closest to one that circulated in Medieval England. Red squirrels are thus a reservoir for leprosy in the British Isles.</p>

BT - Science (New York, N.Y.)
C1 - <p>http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27846605?dopt=Abstract</p>

DO - 10.1126/science.aah3783
IS - 6313
J2 - Science
LA - eng
N2 - <p>Leprosy, caused by infection with Mycobacterium leprae or the recently discovered Mycobacterium lepromatosis, was once endemic in humans in the British Isles. Red squirrels in Great Britain (Sciurus vulgaris) have increasingly been observed with leprosy-like lesions on the head and limbs. Using genomics, histopathology, and serology, we found M. lepromatosis in squirrels from England, Ireland, and Scotland, and M. leprae in squirrels from Brownsea Island, England. Infection was detected in overtly diseased and seemingly healthy animals. Phylogenetic comparisons of British and Irish M. lepromatosis with two Mexican strains from humans show that they diverged from a common ancestor around 27,000 years ago, whereas the M. leprae strain is closest to one that circulated in Medieval England. Red squirrels are thus a reservoir for leprosy in the British Isles.</p>

PY - 2016
SP - 744
EP - 747
T2 - Science (New York, N.Y.)
TI - Red squirrels in the British Isles are infected with leprosy bacilli.
VL - 354
SN - 1095-9203
ER -