Identification Of The Leprosy Agent In China

Background: Mycobacterium leprae was the only known cause of leprosy until 2008, when a new species, named Mycobacterium lepromatosis, was found to cause leprosy in Mexico and other contries.Objective: We aim to figure out whether this new species exist in Chinese leprosy patients.Methods: We sought to differentiate the leprosy agents among 85 Chinese patients with various clinical forms of leprosy. Archived skin biopsy specimens from these patients were tested for both M. Leprae and M. lepromatosis using polymerase chain reaction-based species-specific assays.Results: Of the 85 skin biopsies of leprosy patients, 72(84.7%) were confirmed to be infected by mycobacteria by the first-round PCR analyses. All of the bacteria positive samples were identified to be infected with M. leprae, while the other 13 patients were PCR-negative.We did not found any sample was infected with M. Lepromatosis.Conclusion: In summary, we have not identified the new species of M. leprae in Chinese leprosy cases. So far, M. leprae is likely to be the sole pathogen, which infects leprosy patients in China.