CHAPTER XXII 
THE BACILLUS OP LEPROSY. THE SMEGMA 
BACILLUS 
The Bacillus of Leprosy 
Bacillus leprae is the organism that causes the hor¬ 
rible, incurable disease called leprosy. It resembles the 
tubercle bacillus very closely except that it is not quite as 
Fig. 35.—Leprosy. Section of skin, x 1500. (Hewlett —Manual of Bac¬ 
teriology.) 
slender. The disease is almost never met with in this 
country, and the bacteriology of the affection is, there¬ 
fore, unimportant. The disease is less contagious than 
most other bacterial diseases, and those who observe or¬ 
dinary precautions of cleanliness seldom, if ever, con¬ 
tract it. The differentiation between the tubercle and 
leprosy bacilli is practically impossible. 
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