ELECTRON-MICROSCOPIC STUDY OF LEPROSY IN A MANGABEY MONKEY (NATURAL INFECTION)

  • 1 January 1984
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 52  (2) , 203-207
Abstract
Ultrastructural features of the leproma of a naturally infected mangabey monkey and lepromas and liver of a passage mangabey monkey, a rhesus monkey an African green monkey and a 9 banded armadillo inoculated with leprosy bacilli isolated from the leproma of a naturally infected mangabey monkey were studied by the freeze-etching technique. The size, shape and ultrastructural features of leprosy bacilli in the phagolysosomes of macrophages in all of these samples were essentially the same as those in humans, nude mice and armadillos inoculated with human Mycobacterium leprae. Distinct accumulation of small spherical droplets were observed around leprosy bacilli inside lepra cells of all the samples but were scarece in the specimen from the green monkey. The bacilli in all samples were long and slender and had band structures on the smooth cell wall surfaces. The bacilli were indistinguishable from M. leprae.