Composite skin contact smears in multibacillary leprosy patients

"Composite skin contact smears" technique was used in 20 multibacillary leprosy patients to find out the presence of AFB on their intact skin. One hundred and twenty one AFB were found in 930 sq.cm. area of skin surface examined. Seventy-five AFB were solidly staining and 46 were granular. The bacilli were found in all the sites examined. Immunofluorescent staining showed M. leprae in one out of four patients. The number of bacilli discharged from the intact skin seems adequate for the transmission of leprosy considering the large surface area of the skin and evidence in mouse experiments that multiplication of M. leprae can be obtained after inoculation of very small number of bacilli.