01818nas a2200301   4500000000100000008004100001260001300042653001100055653001200066653002400078653002500102653002500127653001800152653003200170653003100202653000900233100001700242700001400259700002200273700001500295700001400310245004800324856004100372300001100413490000700424520107100431022001401502       1991                            d  c1991 Dec10aHumans10aleprosy10aLeprosy, Borderline10aLeprosy, lepromatous10aLeprosy, Tuberculoid10aMycobacterium10aMycobacterium avium Complex10aMycobacterium scrofulaceum10aSkin1 aFandinho F C1 aSalem J I1 aGontijo-Filho P F1 aMaroja M F1 aDavid H L00aMycobacterial flora of the skin in leprosy.  uhttp://ila.ilsl.br/pdfs/v59n4a04.pdf  a569-750 v593 a<p>The presence of mycobacteria on the skin of healthy people and in leprosy lesions has been documented previously. The present study observed the mycobacterial flora on the hands (by the hand-washing method) and fingers (by the inoculated culture medium using scraped material obtained during the preparation of slit-skin smears) in 89 untreated leprosy patients. We also evaluated the slit-skin smears from fingers for the diagnosis of leprosy. In 16 patients (17.9%) mycobacteria were cultured from scrapings and hand washings. The frequency of isolates from lepromatous (LL) leprosy cases (52.9%) was significantly higher than from tuberculoid (TT) leprosy cases (5.2%). It was observed that Mycobacterium avium and M. scrofulaceum were the only opportunistic mycobacteria isolated from multibacillary patients, and two hypotheses are discussed to explain these findings. The slit-skin smears from fingers were as satisfactory as smears from other sites for the diagnosis of leprosy, but they were less satisfactory for estimating the morphological index.</p>
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