LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - "Now we have the link," said James Krahenbuhl, who heads a government leprosy program that led the new study.

The ancient scourge of primitive man is rarely fatal today. Called Hansen's disease, leprosy is easily curable with prompt treatment.

There are only 150 leprosy cases reported each year in the U.S. Even then, it's mostly among travelers to places such as India, Brazil and Angola where it's more common.

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.

An international team of scientists have published their findings in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine. They think it requires frequent handling of armadillos or eating their meat for leprosy to spread.

DNA samples were taken from 33 wild armadillos in Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, where they're sometimes referred to as "hillbilly speed bumps" because they're often run over by cars.

Scientists took skin biopsies from 50 leprosy patients. Three-quarters had never had foreign exposure, but lived in Southern states where they could have been exposed to armadillos.

Further analysis found that samples from the patients and armadillos were genetically similar to each other and were different from leprosy strains found elsewhere in the world. The unique strain was found in 28 armadillos and 25 patients.

Of the 15 patients for whom researchers had information, seven said they had no contact with armadillos; eight said they did, including one who routinely hunted and ate them....