98 BACTERIOLOGY FOR NURSES 



In staining the bacilli of leprosy the reaction may 

 be said to be identical with the tubercle bacilli, but 

 this similarity and the strong resemblance in appear- 

 ance do not cause any confusion of the two organisms, 

 because the leprosy bacillus is found in the character- 

 istic "lepra cells/ ' and the general symptoms of the 

 two diseases are widely different. 



Leprosy in Man. Leprosy is most common in 

 Asia and Africa along the seacoasts, but it also 

 occurs in certain areas of Greece, Russia, Norway, 

 the West Indies, the Pacific islands, and in North 

 America in Nova Scotia, southern California 

 (among the Chinese), and in Minnesota, being in- 

 troduced into Minnesota from Norway. 



Leprosy is manifested in two forms : " tubercular/' 

 which is characterized by nodules of the skin and 

 mucous membranes; and the "anaesthetic" form, in 

 which the sensory nerves are first involved. In the 

 earliest stage the nerves are hypersensitive, followed 

 by the anaesthetic period, which is accompanied by a 

 dry scaly eruption of the skin of the back, shoulders, 

 arms, around the root of the nails, and following the 

 course of the nerves. 



The anaesthetic form is more common in the tropics, 

 and a mixture of the two varieties is not infrequent. 



Both types of the disease are characterized by 



