Summary
M. leprae bacilli in nerves of 3 patients with lepromatous leprosy were found in the axoplasm of myelinated and unmyelinated nerve fibers. Axonal bacillation occurred in as much as 2% of myelinated axons. Bacilli within Schwann cells were a more common finding in lepromatous leprosy that intra-axonal bacilli. Intra-axonal bacillation probably represents a late stage phenomenon in lepromatous leprosy. Intra-axonal bacilli may contribute to the dissemination of leprosy by migration of bacilli within the axon, and may contribute directly to nerve fiber destruction.
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This work was supported in part by SRS Grant RC75 MPO, Carville, Louisiana and the Yale Medical School Knight Memorial Fellowship in Nervous and Mental Diseases.
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Yoshizumi, M.O., Asbury, A.K. Intra-axonal bacilli in lepromatous leprosy. Acta Neuropathol 27, 1–10 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00687235
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00687235