01442nas a2200241   4500000000100000008004100001260001300042653001200055653001000067653001200077653000900089653000900098653001500107653000900122653001100131100002800142700001800170245007600188300001200264490000700276520090300283022001401186       1990                            d  c1990 Oct10aAnimals10aFeces10aleprosy10aLung10aMice10aMice, Nude10aSkin10aTongue1 aMcDermott-Lancaster R D1 aMcDougall A C00aMode of transmission and histology of M. leprae infection in nude mice.  a689-7000 v713 a<p>Athymic (nude) mice were experimentally infected with Mycobacterium leprae via the alimentary and respiratory tracts and through the skin. Animals were allowed to inhale aerosols of M. leprae or had bacilli instilled into the nostrils or directly into the lungs. Others were fed M. leprae by gastric tube or had bacilli placed on the tongue. Attempts were also made to transmit M. leprae from infected footpads by Aedes aegyptii mosquitoes. The most successful infections resulted from nasal instillations and from bacilli inoculated onto the tongue surface: in these cases heavy systemic infections occurred. M. leprae was also shown to survive passage through the alimentary tract and bacilli recovered from the faeces were capable of causing infection in recipient nude mice. The possible epidemiological significance of these findings for the transmission of leprosy in man is discussed.</p>  a0959-9673