The armadillo has been an important experimental model for leprosy, besides it is still an important resource for bacilli. Despite the innumerous studies about armadillos of the Genus Dasypus, little is known about the real susceptibility of this species to the Hansen’s bacillus after experimental infection with M. leprae. Many authors have reported that 80% of the inoculated animal will develo...

OBJECTIVE To use DNA detection methodologies to test for M. leprae in nine-banded armadillos inhabiting forested regions located around the cities and towns where leprosy patients have been identified. DESIGN Ear lobe biopsies of 22 nine-banded armadillos were studied during a 2 year period. The biopsies were processed for DNA extraction and amplification by nested polymerase chain reaction (...

This paper deals with xenarthrans osteoderms assigned to Dasypus aff. D. novemcinctus, Euphractus sexcinctus and Cabassous sp. The material was collected in subsurface, from 0.10 to 0.60 m in the Urso Fóssil Cave, Parque Nacional de Ubajara, State of Ceará, northeastern Brazil. The ages of sediment samples from levels 4 and 5 (depths of 0.40 and 0.50 m) were determined by thermoluminescence tec...

Published in the Scandinavian Journal of Laboratory Animal Science an international journal of laboratory animal science Introduction Leprosy (Hansen’s disease) is a chronic infectious disease of mankind caused by Mycobacterium leprae. Despite several serious scientific attempts, M.leprae has never been cultivated in artificial bacteriological media. When M.leprae was identified as the causativ...