What is the shape of the bacteria that causes leprosy?

Leprosy (Hansen’s Disease) is a chronic infectious disease that primarily affects the peripheral nerves, skin, upper respiratory tract, eyes, and nasal mucosa (lining of the nose). The disease is caused by a bacillus (rod-shaped) bacterium known as Mycobacterium leprae.

What is the morphology of leprosy?

Infectious Agent Leprosy is cause by infection with an intercellular pathogen known as Mycobacterium leprae. 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.

What characteristics make M. leprae different from other mycobacteria?

Microbiology. It is an intracellular, pleomorphic, acid-fast, pathogenic bacterium. M. leprae is an aerobic bacillus (rod-shaped bacterium) with parallel sides and round ends, surrounded by the characteristic waxy coating unique to mycobacteria.

How can you distinguish Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium leprae?

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is cultivable; Myco- bacterium leprae is not. M leprae infects peripheral nerves; M tuberculosis does not. Untreated tuber- culosis has a high mortality; untreated leprosy has a high disability rate due to peripheral neuropathy.

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.

Can leprosy be cured?

With early diagnosis and treatment, the disease can be cured. People with Hansen’s disease can continue to work and lead an active life during and after treatment. Leprosy was once feared as a highly contagious and devastating disease, but now we know it doesn’t spread easily and treatment is very effective.

Is leprosy bacillus a Mycobacterium?

Mycobacterium leprae is the main causative agent of leprosy, a disease that affects the skin, nerves, and mucosa of the upper respiratory tract in humans1. A second, distantly related leprosy bacillus, Mycobacterium lepromatosis, was recently discovered in humans and red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris)2.

Is leprosy related to tuberculosis?

Tuberculosis (TB) and leprosy are major infectious diseases that are caused by highly related mycobacterial pathogens, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) and M. leprae.

What does leprosy cause?

Hansen’s disease (also known as leprosy) is an infection caused by slow-growing bacteria called Mycobacterium leprae. It can affect the nerves, skin, eyes, and lining of the nose (nasal mucosa). With early diagnosis and treatment, the disease can be cured.

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.

What is the name of the bacteria that causes leprosy?

Related Pages. Hansen’s disease (also known as leprosy) is an infection caused by slow-growing bacteria called Mycobacterium leprae. It can affect the nerves, skin, eyes, and lining of the nose (nasal mucosa). With early diagnosis and treatment, the disease can be cured.

What are the signs and symptoms of lepromatous leprosy?

The lepromatous leprosy is characterized by the presence of large number of acid fast bacilli in large clumps (globi) inside the macrophages (lepra cells). The skin lesions include macules, nodules, plaques, or papules. The skin lesions are extensive and are bilaterally symmetrical. They are most severe at the cooler parts of the body.

What are the pathogenesis and clinical manifestations of Mycobacterium leprae?

Pathogenesis of Mycobacterium leprae M. leprae is an acid-fast, gram-positive obligate intracellular bacillus that shows tropism for cells of the reticuloendothelial system and peripheral nervous system (notably Schwann cells).

Which is the best description of bacterial morphologies?

Bacterial Morphologies Bacterial Morphologies Phenotypic Classification •Microscopic morphology –Gram stain, shape i.e., rods (bacillus), spheres (cocci), curved or spiral, size •Macroscopic –Hemolytic properties on agar containing blood, pigmentation of the colonies, size and shape of colonies, smell and color.