Manifestations of experimental leprosy in the armadillo

Three experiments, using different routes and doses of infection, were conducted using 42 armadillos. Thirty-six of them developed generalized disease. There is no significant sex or age difference in susceptibility. Route and dose of infection make very little difference in the disease prevalence except that the intravenous administration of a large dose reduces the period of development of generalized disease. It is quite possible that in armadillos the resistance to the disease is partly genetic. Although a majority of the armadillos developed lepromatous disease, borderline leproma is fairly common. In skin nodules large colonies of extracellular bacilli are demonstrated. Bacilli are also demonstrated in liver parenchymal cells.