Leprosy Linked To Eating Armadillos–Roadkill Fans Dismayed

Here's a new one on us!  Apparently, after testing various strands of DNA, scientists have linked the nine-banded armadillo to the spread of leprosy in the south.  Who knew?!

"DNA tests show a match in the leprosy strain between some patients and these prehistoric-looking critters--a connection scientists had suspected but until now couldn't pin down."

"Now we have the link," said James Krahenbuhl, who heads a government leprosy program that led the new study.

"Armadillos are one of the very few mammals that harbor the bacteria that cause the sometimes disfiguring disease, which first shows up as an unusual lumpy skin lesion,"  this according to the story published by the Associated Press and relayed by msnbc.com.

All that considered, we're kind of hungry now.  Please feel free to share your best armadillo recipes.