01525nas a2200229   4500000000100000008004100001260000900042653001100051653001200062653002500074653000900099100002200108700002500130700002600155700001900181700002200200245009000222300001000312490000700322520095200329022001401281       1988                            d  c198810aHumans10aleprosy10aMycobacterium leprae10aSkin1 aAlvarez-Mendoza A1 aEscobar-Gutiérrez A1 aAmezcua-Chavarria M E1 aLara-Padilla E1 aSalgado-Navarro J00aDemonstration of acid-fast bacilli in skin biopsies from indeterminate leprosy cases.  a492-40 v823 a<p>Because the correct diagnosis of indeterminate leprosy (IL) requires the finding of acid-fast bacilli in skin lesions from clinically and histopathologically suggestive cases, it is necessary to develop a reliable method for this purpose. This paper presents a simple procedure, available to every general laboratory, which consists in obtaining 2 suspensions: SI, by mincing and grinding the tissue in phosphate-buffered saline; and SII, after treating SI with NaOH solution and digesting with trypsin. In 22 IL skin biopsies, bacilli were directly observed in only 3 with the Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN) stain; and with the peroxidase-antiperoxidase method it was impossible to differentiate between nonspecific precipitate and true positive reactions. In contrast, 18 positive results from the same 22 samples were obtained when both SI and SII were evaluated with ZN stain. The logarithmic bacterial index was also increased in at least 7 cases.</p>  a0035-9203