Mycobacterial flora of the skin in leprosy

Abstract

Attempts were made to investigate mycobacteria other than Mycobacterium tuberculosis on the hands and in biopsy specimens of fifty leprosy patients receiving treatment at the center for Leprosy at Üstanbul Medical School, who were under control for reaction, who were maintained for their lesions or who were hospitalized for non-leprosy reasons. The same investigation was also performed on the hands of fifty healthy subjects who were selected randomly as control group. On the hands of one male subject wtih lepromatous leprosy (2%) mycobacteria other than Mycobacterium tuberculosis was cultivated, whereas these bacteria were not recovered in the control group. Results were not considered to be statistically significant.