Mycobacterium leprae

Mycobacterium leprae

Classification depending on shape: Bacillus

Classification according to beneficial properties: harmful (causes leprosy)

Staining properties: gramm-positive

Non-sporing

Aerobic

Mycobacterium leprae is one of the two species of bacteria that cause Hansen’s disease (leprosy), a chronic but curable infectious disease that damages the peripheral nerves and targets the skin, eyes, nose, and muscles.

Mycobacterium leprae has a narrow host range and apart from humans the only other hosts are nine-banded armadillos and red squirrels, and armadillos have been implicated as a source of zoonotic leprosy in humans.

The symptoms of a leprosy, are skin sores that are pale in color, lumps or bumps that do not go away after several weeks or months, nerve damage which can lead to complications with the ability to sense feeling in the arms and legs as well as muscle weakness. Symptoms usually take 3–5 years from being exposed to manifest within the body. However, some individuals do not begin to show symptoms until 20 years after exposure to the disease. This long incubation period makes the ability to properly be able to diagnose when an individual came into contact with the disease very difficult.

In squirrels, according the to Veterinary Pathology Unit of the University of Edinburgh, " The disease is unmistakeable: there is gross swelling and loss of hair around the snout, lips, eyelids, ears, genitalia and sometimes feet and lower limbs. This bare skin has a “shiny” appearance. The squirrel is usually in generally poor body condition and may have a heavy burden of parasites like fleas, ticks and mites."