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British Red Squirrels Serve as Leprosy Reservoir

posted by janrinok on Monday November 14 2016, @10:47PM   Printer-friendly
from the a-pox-on-you-sir dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

Leprosy has been hiding out in red squirrels in Great Britain and Ireland, though the painful and disfiguring disease hasn't been transmitted between humans there for several centuries.

The endangered bushy-tailed rodents (Sciurus vulgaris) have tested positive for leprosy-causing bacteria in several locations around the British Isles, researchers report November 11 in Science.

"It goes to show that once a disease has become extinct in humans, it could still exist in the environment if there was a suitable reservoir," says study coauthor Stewart Cole, director of the Global Health Institute at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne. In this case, squirrels seem to be ideal incubators for leprosy bacteria.

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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by bootsy on Tuesday November 15 2016, @03:36PM

    by bootsy (3440) on Tuesday November 15 2016, @03:36PM (#426997)

    I thought the reason Greys displaced Reds was due to the diseases the Greys carry that Reds have no immuinity to. They don't compete for the same resources. Reds like coniferous trees and Grey are deciduous tree fans. If we immunise the Reds it would be okay. At the moment they do well on Islands such as the Isle of Wight or Anglesey ( they had a policy of shooting grey squirrels). There used to be a huge population in Formby in the North West of England but they got all but wiped out by the squirrel pox in the last 10 years. If there is no disease present they can live side by side quite happily.

    Also larger grey Squirrels are starting to get red patches on them. Presumably there is an advantage to having this colouring in UK woods.

    Given the risk of disease the title of this comment thread is probably the last thing you should do.

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