A new study has found British red squirrels are infected with two different strains of the bacterium that causes leprosy. The disease is caused by different strains of the bacterium Mycobacterium. Leprosy (or Hansen’s disease) is a chronic disease caused Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis. The evidence of the disease in squirrel populations is evident from abnormal growths on their ears, snout and limbs.
Although incidences of the disease had been noted in red squirrels in Scotland, it is only recently that researchers have charted the extent of the disease among squirrel populations throughout the British Isles. The red squirrel or Eurasian red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) is a species of tree squirrel. Red squirrels are a protected species and their numbers are in decline. This is due to competition from grey squirrels, habitat loss, and infection with squirrel poxvirus.
Speaking with the BBC, one of the lead researchers, Professor Anna Meredith explained how the discovery was made: “we took samples from those squirrels, investigated further and we found that the squirrels on Brownsea Island were also infected with leprosy, and it’s the human form of the disease.” Despite the detection of the bacteria it is not considered that the squirrels pose any risk to people.
Analysis by IFL Science ponders how the study raises interesting questions about how some animals can serve as reservoirs for diseases, and how, in this case, diseases can persist in the environment even when thought it had long disappeared.
The findings are published in the journal Science, with the research headed “Red squirrels in the British Isles are infected with leprosy bacilli.”
Digital Journal has recently run two other squirrel-centric articles: we reported on a new study that found Helsinki has witnessed a boom in the population of Siberian flying squirrels, with numbers expanding greatly over the past two years. We also reported on a biology study that found male squirrels are very lazy and females do almost all of the work.
