LEPROSY-LIKE DISEASE - Continued reactions at 28 days in lepromatous and tuberculoid leprosy patients that were identical to those induced by lepromin prepared from human lepromatous tissue. The behavior of the organism has been identical to M. leprae by immunofluorescent staining and by pyridine extractability of acid-fastness.

The 14 naturally infected armadillos were trapped at 4 locations 17 to 39 miles from the GSRI laboratories and represent approximately 10% of uninoculated animals that were examined from these trapping areas. Two of the 14 had been in captivity for more than 5 months before examination, but most were examined within 1 month of capture. Four of the 14 had ulcers or subcutaneous nodules suggestive of leprosy noted prior to death. One animal had acid-fast bacilli on nasal smear.

The 9-banded armadillo, the only armadillo species indigenous to the U.S., apparently first migrated into Louisiana in the 1930s from Texas. It is now widely distributed in all Gulf Coast states and Oklahoma.

(Reported by GP Walsh, PhD, and EE Storrs, PhD, Gulf South Research Institute, New Iberia, La; CH Binford, MD, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Washington, DC; CT Caraway, DVM, State Epidemiologist, Louisiana Health & Human Resources Admin; Leprosy and Rickettsia Branch, Virology Div, Bur of Laboratories, Special Pathogens Branch and Bacterial Zoonoses Branch, Bacterial Diseases Div, Bur of Epidemiology, CDC.)

Editorial Note

The pathologic picture and the Mitsuda reactions at 28 days strongly suggest that the mycobacteria found in these wild armadillos are M. leprae, but until other pending confirmatory tests are available, the identification cannot be considered definite.

Leprosy has been endemic in Louisiana for more than a century. Since 9-banded armadillos have been in Louisiana only since the 1930s, and the incidence of leprosy has been decreasing in that state for the past 50 years, it is unlikely that the armadillo has been a significant source of the reported leprosy cases there. A retrospective epidemiologic study was recently completed with 19 of the 23 leprosy patients who have been reported from Louisiana since 1966 and who do not have a family history of leprosy. The reported armadillo contact of these patients was low and similar to that of matched controls, suggesting that armadillo contact has not been related to leprosy in humans.

References

1. Kirchheimer WF, Storrs EE: Attempts to establish the armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus Linn.) as a model for the study of leprosy. I. Report of Lepromatoid leprosy in an experimentally infected armadillo. Int J Lepr 39:693-702, 1971

2. Walsh GP, Storrs, EE, Burchfield HP, Cottrell EH, Vidrine MF, Binford CH: Leprosy-like disease occurring naturally in armadillos. J Reticuloendothel Soc 18:347-351, 1975

Salmonella typhi has been isolated from specimens from 5 more persons who ate dinner at a New York City restaurant, Patricia Murphy's Candlelight Restaurant at 12 East 49th Street, on December 13, 1975; this brings the total number of culture-proven cases to 12 (MMWR_25[2]). Typhoid is also suspected in a woman who was treated with ampicillin before the diagnosis of typhoid was considered; she has had splenomegaly, rose spots, and rising antibody titers. All 6 of the most recent cases were reported from Massachusetts. All of the current employees of the restaurant have had

at least 1 negative purged-stool culture; additional stool specimens are being obtained. Investigators are searching for 7 former restaurant employees who have not yet submitted specimens for culture. The vehicle of transmission and a carrier have not yet been identified. (Reported by NJ Fiumara, MD, State Epidemiologist, Massachusetts Dept of Public Health; E Bell, RN, JS Marr, MD, New York City Epidemiologist, Bur of Infectious Disease Control, New York City; Field Services Div, Enteric Diseases Branch, Bacterial Diseases Div, Bur of Epidemiology, CDC.)

South Africa

An outbreak of influenza A occurred between December 10, 1975, and January 6, 1976, in a mining population in Transvaal. Fourteen strains were isolated. Sporadic cases have been reported in Johannesburg.

United Kingdom

Sporadic cases of influenza A and B have been occurring since December. Forty-two influenza B strains similar to B/Hong Kong/5/72 have been isolated. Fourteen of the A strains are identical to each other and are distinct from A/Port Chalmers and A/Scotland. One strain similar to A/Victoria/ 3/75 has been isolated.

(Reported by the World Health Organization in the Weekly Epidemiological Record 51[3]:19, January 16, 1976.)

United States

Arizona and Washington: Influenza virus has been isolated in Arizona and confirmed as A/Victoria/3/75-like. In

fluenza A virus also has been isolated in Washington; antigenic typing is pending.

Iowa: Three strains of influenza A virus have been isolated from 16 students with respiratory illnesses at the University of Iowa. The students had been ill during the week ending January 23. The same week an outbreak of influenzalike illness occurred in Lansing, Iowa.

Minnesota: An outbreak of a typical influenza-like illness occurred in the week ending January 16 in an elementary school in St. Paul; 107 of 300 students were affected. Influenza A virus was isolated from all of the 7 students who were cultured.

An earlier isolate (MMWR 25[2]) has been confirmed as A/Victoria/3/75-like.

New Jersey and Massachusetts: Influenza A virus has been isolated in these states from localized outbreaks. Further characterization of viruses is pending.

New York: During the week ending January 23, an