468 LEPROSY AND ACID-FAST BACTERIA 



ova and in the testicles. It is suspected that children born of leprous 

 parents are probably infected immediately before or shortly after 

 birth. 



Method of Dissemination. The exact method of transmission of 

 leprosy is still unknown. It is generally believed that the bacillus 

 might be transmitted either by droplet infection or by direct contact. 

 The organism, however, does not appear to be very infectious, in 

 adults at least, for experience has shown that prolonged and intimate 

 association with a leper does not as a rule result in infection. 



Leprosy of Rats. Stefansky 1 has reported a disease of rats which 

 resembles human leprosy in a striking manner; like the disease in 

 man the lesions, which consist essentially of glandular enlargement, 

 subcutaneous infiltration and induration, alopecia, and frequently 

 deep-seated cutaneous ulcerations, contain large numbers of acid- 

 fast bacilli which resemble Bacillus leprse both morphologically and 

 in their collection in large numbers in the localized swellings. Dean 2 

 has corroborated the observation and also found acid-fast bacilli in the 

 nasal secretion of the rats. He also isolated a diphtheroid bacillus 

 similar to that of Kedrowski. The disease is wide-spread among 

 rats, being reported in Russia, 3 Berlin, 4 Australia, 5 and the United 

 States. 6 It is found in areas free from human cases, as human leprosy 

 is found in locations where the disease is not found in rodents. 

 Whether the human and rat leprosy bacilli are identical or not is not 

 finally decided; Mezinescu 7 and Schmitt 8 have shown by the method 

 of complement fixation that the sera of human and rat lepers mutually 

 exhibit complete reactions. 



ACID-FAST BACILLI OTHER THAN BACILLUS TUBERCULOSIS 

 AND BACILLUS LEPR-ffl. 



Following the discovery of the tubercle and leprosy bacilli, which 

 exhibit the striking phenomenon of "acid-fastness," a number of 

 bacteria presenting the same general staining reactions have been 

 described. They are somewhat widely distributed in nature, being 



1 Centralbl. f. Bakt., Orig., 1903. xxxiii, 481. 



2 Ibid., xxxiv, 222. 



3 Stefansky, loc. cit. 



4 Rabinovitsch, Centralbl. f. Bakt., Orig., 1903, xxxiii, 577. 



5 Bull. Jour, of Australasia, 1907, 263. 



6 Wherry, Jour. Am. Med. Assn., 1908, 1, 1903. McCoy, Public Health Rep., 

 July 10, 1908. 



7 Compt. rend. Soc. biol.. 1908, Ixiv, 514; 1909, Ixvi, 56. 

 * University of California Pub. in Path., 1911, ii, 29. 



