RESUMO
BACKGROUND: The armadillo was the first animal model of leprosy. Its role in the transmission of leprosy remains controversial. The sooty mangabey model of leprosy led to the discovery that rhesus monkeys were more susceptible to leprosy when coinfected with simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), but that leprosy may play a protective role against acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) mortality. Recently, molecular methods have been developed for leprosy and may help resolve the role of zoonoses in leprosy. OBSERVATIONS: The recent identification of a case of leprosy in a native-born American on the east coast of the USA and the identification of leprosy as an immunologic reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS) in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive cases raise the question of what role zoonoses may play in leprosy. CONCLUSIONS: Leprosy in armadillos and sooty mangabeys has been manipulated by human experimentation. In the case of the armadillo, further study, including molecular techniques, is required to elucidate the role of the armadillo as a zoonosis in human leprosy. Experimentation with the sooty mangabey led to the discovery of an interaction between SIV and leprosy in rhesus monkeys, and prompted the continued investigation of the relationship between HIV and leprosy.
Assuntos
Tatus/microbiologia , Cercocebus atys/microbiologia , Hanseníase/veterinária , Zoonoses , Experimentação Animal , Animais , Cercocebus atys/virologia , HIV , Infecções por HIV/complicações , Infecções por HIV/microbiologia , Humanos , Hanseníase/complicações , Hanseníase/transmissão , Hanseníase/virologia , Macaca mulatta/microbiologia , Macaca mulatta/virologia , Doenças dos Macacos/microbiologia , Doenças dos Macacos/virologia , Mycobacterium leprae/genética , Síndrome de Imunodeficiência Adquirida dos Símios/complicações , Síndrome de Imunodeficiência Adquirida dos Símios/microbiologia , Vírus da Imunodeficiência SímiaRESUMO
We report an indigenous case of leprosy in New York City in an immunocompetent patient who was infected with a Mycobacterium leprae genotype that is consistent with an exogenous origin. Physicians in the eastern United States should be alerted that, although most patients who develop leprosy in the United States are foreign born, native-born Americans are also susceptible to the infection.