AUTHOR=Deps Patrícia , Collin Simon M. 

TITLE=Mycobacterium lepromatosis as a Second Agent of Hansen’s Disease

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2021.698588

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2021.698588

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p><italic>Mycobacterium lepromatosis</italic> was identified as a new species and second causal agent of Hansen’s disease (HD, or leprosy) in 2008, 150years after the disease was first attributed to <italic>Mycobacterium leprae</italic>. <italic>M. lepromatosis</italic> has been implicated in a small number of HD cases, and clinical aspects of HD caused by <italic>M. lepromatosis</italic> are poorly characterized. HD is a recognized zoonosis through transmission of <italic>M. leprae</italic> from armadillos, but the role of <italic>M. lepromatosis</italic> as a zoonotic agent of HD is unknown. <italic>M. lepromatosis</italic> was initially associated with diffuse lepromatous leprosy, but subsequent case reports and surveys have linked it to other forms of HD. HD caused by <italic>M. lepromatosis</italic> has been reported from three endemic countries: Brazil, Myanmar, and Philippines, and three non-endemic countries: Mexico, Malaysia, and United States. Contact with armadillos in Mexico was mentioned in 2/21 <italic>M. lepromatosis</italic> HD case reports since 2008. <italic>M. lepromatosis</italic> in animals has been investigated only in non-endemic countries, in squirrels and chipmunks in Europe, white-throated woodrats in Mexico, and armadillos in the United States. To date, there have only been a small number of positive findings in Eurasian red squirrels in Britain and Ireland. A single study of environmental samples found no <italic>M. lepromatosis</italic> in soil from a Scottish red squirrel habitat. Future studies must focus on endemic countries to determine the true proportion of HD cases caused by <italic>M. lepromatosis</italic>, and whether viable <italic>M. lepromatosis</italic> occurs in non-human sources.</p>