Mycobacterium leprae
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| Mycobacterium leprae | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||
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| Binomial name | ||||||||||||
| Mycobacterium leprae |
Description and significance
This M.leprae causes the disease leprosy. It's also called the Hansen's disease after the scientist that discovered the bacteria in the skin nodules of leprosy patient. For a long time this disease was seen as a curse , an hieredietery disease and its patients used to be stimatized.
Genome structure
Mycobactrium M.leprae has about 3,268,203 base pairs. Only 49% of the genome encode for proteins. The rest is composed of pseudogenes.
Cell structure and metabolism
The cell is rode shaped , gram positive and due to the lost of some of their metabolic capabilities they are parasites. So they depend on their of most of their metabolic fnctions and nutritional needs.
Ecology
This bacteria lives is found in the soil. The nine-banded armadilo are a resevoir of this bacteria.
Pathology
The transmission of this disease is not fully understood yet , but it's likely to spread through the air from coughing and sneezing.It attacks the nervous system and skin lesios are formed on the patient in the early stage. It leads to paralysis and loss of extremeties. One its virulence factor is the formation of mycolic acid that formed the waxy exterior coating that is unique to Mycobacteria.
Current Research
Enter summaries of the most recent research here--at least three required Recent are being done on strains of rifampin-resistant M. leprae in two of three patients with recurring leprosy
References
[Sample reference] [Irgens L (2002). "The discovery of the leprosy bacillus". Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen 122 (7): 708-9. PMID 11998735] [Cole ST, Eiglmeier K, Parkhill J, et al (2001). "Massive gene decay in the leprosy bacillus". Nature 409 (6823): 1007-11. doi:10.1038/35059006. PMID 11234002.] [Hernández E, Cardona-Castro N, Rodríguez G, Villegas S, Beltrán C, Kimura M, Vissa VD, Gómez Y. "Study of rifampin and dapsone resistance in three patients with recurring leprosy".Rev Panam Salud Publica. 2008 Feb;23(2):73-7.]