Lepromatous placentitis and intrauterine fetal infection in lepromatous nine-banded armadillos (Dasypus novemcinctus).

Three pregnant lepromatous armadillos along with the three sets of four fetuses and their placentae were studied histopathologically. Mycobacterium leprae were present in the decidual tissue, trophoblastic cells which line the chorionic villi, and in the cells that form the internal structure of the villi. Acid-fast organisms were also seen in the spleens of three fetuses. Congenital infection is clearly possible in leprosy in the armadillo and may also occur in humans.