THE SMEGMA BACILLUS 407 



Dean cultivated a diphtheroid non-acid-fast bacillus from this 

 disease ; Bayon an acid-fast leproid bacillus, which he finds to be 

 very similar to that obtained by him from human leprosy. 



Clinical Examination 



(1) If cutaneous nodules be present, one is clamped, pricked, 

 and films are prepared with the juice that exudes and stained by the 

 Ziehl-Neelsen method. The occurrence of large numbers of acid- 

 fast bacilli in the cutaneous structures is diagnostic of leprosy 

 (the smegma bacillus may be present on, but not in, the skin). 



(2) In the tissues, sections of which are stained in the same 

 manner as tuberculous material, the diagnosis must be based on 

 the presence of the bacilli in large numbers in the so-called 

 leprosy-cells. 



(3) Leprosy is not inoculable in guinea-pigs. 



N.B. It must be remembered that lepers not infrequently 

 suffer from coincident tuberculosis. 



(4) The differentiation of the leprosy from the tubercle bacillus 

 by staining methods cannot be said to be satisfactory. By 

 staining in a saturated aqueous solution of fuchsin in the cold for 

 five to seven minutes, and subsequently decolorising with acid 

 alcohol (nitric acid 1 part, alcohol 10 parts), it is stated that the 

 leprosy bacillus is stained, the tubercle bacillus not. 



The Smegma Bacillus 



The smegma bacillus is an organism found in the smegma 

 prseputii, between the scrotum and thigh, and between the 

 labia. It also occurs in the cerumen, occasionally on the 

 skin, and possibly in the sputum. 



It is a small bacillus closely resembling the tubercle 

 bacillus in size and appearance, and, like the latter, is 

 acid-fast by the same method of staining (Plate XI, 6), 

 and is Gram-positive. It has, therefore, to be distin- 

 guished from the tubercle bacillus in certain localities, 

 viz. in urine and about the external genitals. It is non- 

 inoculable on animals, and does not usually grow in 

 primary cultures on ordinary media, but can be isolated 



