An international team led by Colorado State University has found that human contact with wild armadillos has contributed to extremely high infection rates of a pathogen that can cause leprosy in Pará, Brazil.

The majority of armadillos may be carriers of leprosy in a Brazil, where the rate of leprosy cases reported is amongst the highest in the world.

A study led by CSU professor John Spencer found that 62% of all armadillos in the western part of Pará state in Brazil carry the bacteria that causes leprosy.

Wild armadillo meat is popular in Brazil, but a new study led by John Spencer shows those who eat it put themselves at risk of contracting leprosy.

John Spencer spends nearly six months of every year in the Amazon region of Brazil working to end the stigma associated with leprosy and to help those infected understand, manage, and defeat the disease.

Salgado is a clinician from Brazil, and Spencer is a professor and self-described “lab guy” based at Colorado State University.

Spencer and Salgado work together in the Amazon region of Brazil to empower, educate, treat, and move toward a future without leprosy.

CSU Mycobacteria Research Laboratories scientists find leprosy bacteria can survive inside amoebae longer than previously investigated.

A new test by American researchers and manufactured in Brazil, could diagnose leprosy in patients sooner to prevent permanent health effects.