@article{15646,
  keywords = {Adult, Aged, Animals, Armadillos, Bacteriological Techniques, Blood, Chemical Precipitation, Humans, Lepromin, leprosy, Microscopy, Electron, Middle Aged, Mycobacterium leprae, Polyethylene Glycols, Sepsis},
  author = {Saha K and Chakraborty A K and Prakash N},
  title = {A quick method of demonstrating bacillaemia in patients with lepromatous leprosy and ultrastructural studies of the circulating acid-fast bacilli.},
  abstract = {<p>While studying circulating immune complexes (CIC) in the sera of lepromatous patients by the polyethylene glycol (PEG) precipitation technique, we found (by light microscopy) abundant acid-fast bacilli (AFB), morphologically similar to those seen in slit skin smear preparations from these patients, precipitated with the PEG precipitated materials. Both solid and non-solid AFB could be readily identified. Ultrastructures of these AFB in the PEG aggregates showed some similarity with those detected in the PEG precipitates prepared from armadillo-derived lepromin under identical conditions. The most striking difference between the AFB in the test sera and that in the armadillo-derived lepromin was the absence of any transverse band in the former. This suggested that the AFB in the patients' circulation were not in division stage. Furthermore, electron-dense material were deposited on the AFB co-precipitated from the patients' sera, which were not found on the AFB co-precipitated from the armadillo-derived lepromin.</p>},
  year = {1983},
  journal = {Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene},
  volume = {77},
  pages = {660-4},
  month = {1983},
  issn = {0035-9203},
  doi = {10.1016/0035-9203(83)90196-7},
  language = {eng},
}