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Optimized Protocols for Mycobacterium leprae Strain Management: Frozen Stock Preservation and Maintenance in Athymic Nude Mice
Published on: March 23, 2014
Lepra: various etiologies from miasma to bacteriology and genetics
Andrzej Grzybowski1, Jarosław Sak2, Elżbieta Suchodolska3
1Department of Ophthalmology, Poznań City Hospital, ul. Szwajcarska 3, 61-285 Poznań, Poland; Department of Ophthalmology, University of Warmia and Mazury, Olsztyn, Poland.
Abstract:
Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by a close relative of Mycobacterium tuberculosis: Mycobacterium leprae. There have been various beliefs in its etiology with two main concepts emerging: anticontagion and contagion. From ancient times through the early Middle Ages, the miasmatic theory of leprosy was the main anticontagion view. The development of histopathologic and cytologic studies in the second half of the 19th century provided a starting point to explain the etiology of leprosy bacteriologically.
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