What you may not have known about leprosy...

Have you ever had one of those moments in your life when you’re just going about your life, minding your own business, and suddenly you’re told that there is a chance that you may have infected with leprosy?

I know, it sounds strange and far-fetched, perhaps third world or Biblical, but it happened to me in the United States just a few years ago, and I was sure surprised.

We were driving about 70 MPH through Oklahoma on our way to Texas when suddenly I saw it. A large Armadillo on the side of the road, alive. I had already seen tons of dead ones, but this was only the second alive one I had ever seen. Not be one to miss an opportunity, I quickly turned around and pulled over. I grabbed our fishing net out of the back of our minivan and took off after it.

Success!!!

I caught that Armadillo and brought it back to the van to let the kids get an up close and personal look. After a few moments of checking it out, we lit the Armadillo go and were back on the road. My wife commented about how blessed she was to have a husband who would do something like that, and the kids had enjoyed meeting another interesting creature.

Later that day, down in San Marcos, TX, we stopped for the night at a motel. As I was checking in, somehow I wound up mentioning our encounter with the Armadillo earlier. The desk clerk looked very concerned, and said, “You might not want to be touching those, Bro. They can carry leprosy.”

I was dumbfounded. How had I never heard of this? I had only ever seen one other Armadillo in the wild, back when I lived in New Orleans. I had caught that one too, but no one had ever mentioned leprosy.

Obviously, I was quite concerned. Immediately when we entered our room I grabbed the laptop and hopped on the wifi. Sure enough, Armadillos could carry leprosy. That was the bad news. The good news is, that I have never been infected with leprosy.

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If you live in an area where Armadillos are present, then you may already know about this, but I wanted to share this story just in case some of you didn’t. I realize that not everyone is lie @papa-pepper chasing random wild things into woods, but you never know.

I saw this little guy today at a job site, and decided to pick him up for the photo opportunity. I think that they are incredible little creatures, and their undersides remind me of snapping turtles. I definitely do not mind “checking them out”, but I should probably start doing that from a distance these days.

It is also worth mentioning that Leprosy is now often call “Hansen’s disease,” and it is easily treatable with antibiotics these days, so it is not quite the health hazard that it once was, for those with access to treatment.

Though there is no serious health risk for those living in the southern United States, you may want to make sure not to try this at home.

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As always, I’m @papa-pepper, and here’s the proof:

proof-of-papa-pepper-potentially-getting-leprosy

ALL PHOTOS TAKEN YESTERDAY BY @PAPA-PEPPER AND HIS BOSS

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Awesome Handcrafted @papa-pepper logo kindly donated by @vlad - Thank you!!