Mycobacterium leprae in Armadillo Tissues from Museum Collections, United States

Abstract

We examined armadillos from museum collections in the United States using molecular assays to detect leprosy-causing bacilli. We found Mycobacterium leprae bacilli in samples from the United States, Bolivia, and Paraguay; prevalence was 14.8% in nine-banded armadillos. US isolates belonged to subtype 3I-2, suggesting long-term circulation of this genotype.

Keywords: Avanzi C; Bolivia; Garzon-Chavez D; Hansen disease; Jackson M; Mycobacterium leprae; Mycobacterium lepromatosis; PCR; Paraguay; Peterson AT. Mycobacterium leprae in armadillo tissues from museum collections; Suggested citation for this article: Romero-Alvarez D; United States; United States. Emerg Infect Dis. 2023 Mar [date cited]. https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2903.221636; armadillo; leprosy; molecular techniques; museum collections; tuberculosis and other mycobacteria.

Figure 1

Geographic origin of samples analyzed in study of Mycobacterium leprae in armadillo tissue samples from US museums (n = 8 countries). We obtained coordinates from the tissue metadata or georeferenced them manually by using Google Earth (https://earth.google.com). Of the 2 samples suitable for whole-genome sequencing, 1, USA-am-109, lacked spatial detail from which to obtain coordinates and is not included on the map, along with 4 additional samples. The other sample that was sequenced, USA-am-209, is indicated with an arrow and the number in a red square.

Figure 2

Comparative genomics of the Mycobacterium leprae sequenced this study from armadillo tissues from US museums and those from humans and armadillos from the United States and Mexico. Samples subjected to whole-genome sequencing, USA-am-109 and USA-am-209, clustered among genomes from humans and armadillos from the United States (branch 3I). The tree represents a zoom into the M. leprae genotypes 3I-1 and 3I-2 from a maximum-parsimony tree of 302 M. leprae genomes rooted with M. lepromatosis as outgroup. The tree was built in MEGA version 11 software (https://www.megasoftware.net). Support values were obtained by bootstrapping 500 replicates. Scale bar indicates number of nucleotide substitutions.