Health in Malaysia
Leptospirosis is a water contract disease caused by bacteria of the genus Leptospirabacterial. It is a disease that affects both humans and animals. The number of leptospirosis cases had steadily increased from 2011 (2,268 cases with 55 death) to 2015 (8,291 cases with 78 death) and 5,284 cases with 52 death in 2016. Leptospirosis can have important health impact and is a burden to the nation if not well controlled. Addressing leptospisoris includes maintain a clean environment and by not swimming or wading in water that might be contaminated with animal urine, or eliminating contact with potentially infected animals.
Dasypus
Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by the bacteria "Mycobacterium leprae". "M. leprae" is unculturable on artificial media, and only after years of research was the ability to culture the bacteria on the footpads of mice discovered. However, the development of the bacteria and study was still very limited until the successful infection of lepromatous leprosy in the nine-banded armadillo ("Dasypus novemcinctus") by Kirchheimer and Storrs in 1971. Soon after, Convit and Pinardi incurred a second successful inoculation of "M. leprae" into "Dasypus sabanicola". The armadillo became the only known animal other than primates to regularly develop leprosy and has since largely advanced the disease study through use of in vivo propagation of "M. leprae". "Dasypus" was also an ideal model due to the ability to replicate experiments on their genetically identical siblings. Despite the discovery of additional "Dasypus" species capable of infection ("D. septemcinctus" and "D. pilosus"), the nine-banded armadillo remains a favored animal model due to its availability and ideal body temperatures for bacterial hosting. "D. sabanicola" is also continually used in research due to its adaptability to the lab environment and ease of handling. The nine-banded armadillo's enhanced ability to grow "M. leprae" has led to suggestions that armadillo species are more susceptible to the disease due to their generally lower body temperatures.