Table of Contents
- 1 How is Mycobacterium leprae cultivated?
- 2 How is Mycobacterium leprae grown in the laboratory?
- 3 What is the culture media for Mycobacterium leprae?
- 4 How is leprosy prevented?
- 5 What does Mycobacterium leprae look like?
- 6 How is Mycobacterium leprae transmitted?
- 7 How was leprosy cured?
- 8 Is leprosy spread by touch?
- 9 How long has Mycobacterium leprae been uncultivable in culture?
- 10 What kind of bacteria causes leprosy in humans?
How is Mycobacterium leprae cultivated?
M. leprae has never been successfully grown in artificial media, but can be propagated in the mouse footpad and the nine-banded armadillo. The organism has a long doubling time of 13 days in the mouse footpad, selectively invades peripheral nerves, and grows preferentially at temperatures of 33–35°C.
How is Mycobacterium leprae grown in the laboratory?
Cultivation. Since in vitro cultivation is not generally possible, it has instead been grown in mouse foot pads and more recently in nine-banded armadillos because they, like humans, are susceptible to leprosy.
What is the culture media for Mycobacterium leprae?
The M. leprae cells were inoculated into culture media containing KH2PO4 4.7. g. Na2HPO4 2 g, sodium thioglycolate 1 g, (NH4)2SO4 2 g, MgSO4 0.1 g, ferric ammonium citrate 0.05 g, and lipoic acid (thioctic acid) 0.1 g in one liter distilled water.
How can you distinguish Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium leprae?
A comparison of the structures of these two mycobacteria revealed that the M. leprae cell was smaller in size and had a thinner peptidoglycan layer than the M. tuberculosis cell. The cell widths measured on electron micrographs were 0.44 m for M.
Is there a vaccine for leprosy?
There are two leprosy vaccine candidates, MIP in India (82) and LepVax (66), and the TB vaccine pipeline is much more advanced and diverse than the one for leprosy.
How is leprosy prevented?
How can leprosy be prevented? The best way to prevent the spread of leprosy is the early diagnosis and treatment of people who are infected. For household contacts, immediate and annual examinations are recommended for at least five years after last contact with a person who is infectious.
What does Mycobacterium leprae look like?
M. leprae is a strongly acid-fast, rod-shaped bacterium. It has parallel sides and rounded ends, measuring 1-8 microns in length and 0.2-0.5 micron in diameter, and closely resembles the tubercle bacillus.
How is Mycobacterium leprae transmitted?
leprae spreads person to person by nasal secretions or droplets from the upper respiratory tract and nasal mucosa. However, the disease is not highly contagious like the flu. They speculate that infected droplets reach other peoples’ nasal passages and begin the infection there.
What is leprosy called today?
Related Pages. Hansen’s disease (also known as leprosy) is an infection caused by slow-growing bacteria called Mycobacterium leprae.
How did leprosy start?
The disease seems to have originated in Eastern Africa or the Near East and spread with successive human migrations. Europeans or North Africans introduced leprosy into West Africa and the Americas within the past 500 years.
How was leprosy cured?
How is leprosy cured? Antibiotics can cure leprosy. They work by killing the bacteria that cause leprosy. While antibiotics can kill the bacteria, they cannot reverse damage caused by the bacteria.
Is leprosy spread by touch?
Leprosy is not spread by touch, since the mycobacteria are incapable of crossing intact skin. Living near people with leprosy is associated with increased transmission. Among household contacts, the relative risk for leprosy is increased 8- to 10-fold in multibacillary and 2- to 4-fold in paucibacillary forms.
How long has Mycobacterium leprae been uncultivable in culture?
Mycobacterium leprae, despite being recognized as a human pathogen over 140 years ago, remains uncultivable in microbiological culture media or in cell culture systems.
Where does Mycobacterium leprae interact with host cells?
Interaction with host cells Mycobacterium leprae primarily infects the lower temperature extremities, such as the epithelial cells and nonmyelin producing Schwann cells around peripheral nerves in the hands and feet, and occasionally the upper respiratory tract, testes, and cornea, causing the disease leprosy.
What kind of disease does Mycobacterium leprae cause?
The variability of the immune response mounted by the host in response to infection with M. leprae will determine a spectrum of bacteriological, pathological, immunological and clinical features between two polar forms, tuberculoid and lepromatous leprosy ( 42 ): The disease is localized to one or few sites in the skin and large peripheral nerves.
What kind of bacteria causes leprosy in humans?
Leprosy is a chronic bacterial infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae ( 19 ). This infection targets skin, peripheral nerves, and the eyes ( 5 , 32 ).