Andy the Armadillo: Friend or Foe?

    Armadillos might not be the cutest creature in the Animal Kingdom but they aren't too awful right? Wrong. According to a recent federal study, armadillos are responsible for one third of the leprosy cases in the united states.

    Leprosy is a disease that affects about 250 people in the United States. It causes disfiguring skin lesions, nerve damage, and progressive debilitation. it can be be cured with a drug regimen if caught early, but if not it can cause permanent nerve damage. Most patients with leprosy-like symptoms are often questioned about their travel history since leprosy is common in areas such as India, Brazil, Africa, and the Philippines.“These patients have always been a puzzle,” said Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. For those who haven't traveled overseas though, leprosy is often ruled out and therefore left untreated.

   The third of cases in the United States are concentrated around the Louisiana and Texas area where the hunting, skinning, and eating of the armadillo is common, so because of this recent discovery people are now being warned to limit contact with armadillos and consumption of armadillo meat.

   The interesting thing about leprosy and armadillos though is that the disease seems to have the ability to be passed from armadillo to human and human to armadillo. This is known because leprosy was not present in the new world before Christopher Columbus came and armadillos are only indigenous to the New World. Leprosy is one of a number of diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans including the flu, HIV/AIDS, and SARS.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/28/health/28leprosy.html?ref=science

More Tornadoes?!

      

For those from the Southeast, Midwest, and Great Plains, tornado warnings are not out of the ordinary. However for a lifelong Northern girl, these warnings are not so common, they are rare, and the idea that these occurances might be increasing is definitely cause for alarm for everyone.

         Statistics show that the average amount of tornadoes in april has increased since 74 in the 1950's to over 160 in the 2000's. So far in April 2011 there have been over 250 tornadoes recorded and the month is not even over yet.  If the number of tornadoes has more than doubled in 50 years then we should expect this number to triples and quadruple in future years right? False. The cause of this increase is not some Mayan calender or global warming. “It’s unusual but it does happen,” said Howard Bluestein, a meteorology professor at the University of Oklahoma who specializes in tornado research. “This isn’t a sign that the world is about to end.” It is simply due to the fact that humans have gotten better at predicting and accounting for tornadoes.

        It is likely that much of the older tornado data on record is false. Because of limited technologies and primitive tornado observation techniques, only the largest and most destructive tornadoes were recorded simply because they were the only ones observed. Small tornadoes that barely touched ground were most likely overlooked if they were even noticed at all.

       So thankfully the number of tornadoes is not increasing. This doesn't mean that warnings and watches should not be taken seriously though. Always be cautious and follow instructions where tornadoes are concerned. Just because the numbers aren't increasing doesn't mean they aren't still dangerous!

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/26/us/26tornadoes.html?_r=1&ref=earth