Commentary: is it really M. leprae?

The authors studied 66 wild nine-banded armadillos from Brazil. the ear samples were collected and Ziehl-Neelsen or Fite-Faraco stains were performed, as well as immunostaining using polyclonal BCG antibody, to avaluate the presence of the Mycobacterium leprae. the AFB were not detected by the Ziehl-Neelsen or Fite-Faraco staining, neither immunoexpression of the BCG marker. However, many normal structures from the ears of the nine-banded armadillos, such as condrocytes, condroblasts, fibroblasts and endothelial cells, and Gram positive bacteria cocci, showed false positive reaction by the BCG marker. the authors discuss the use of the immunohistochemical studies with the polyclonal BCG antibody to identify M. leprae antigens in wild armadillos.Fed Univ Espirito Santo, Dept Social Med, Infect Dis Unit, Vitoria, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Pathol, São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Dermatol, São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Pathol, São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Dermatol, São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc

Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for determination of PGL-I in circulating immune complexes of leprosy patients

UNIFESP,EPM,DEPT DERMATOL,SAO PAULO,BRAZILHOP JEAN VERDIER,BONDY,FRANCEUNIV PARIS 07,HOP ST LOUIS,PARIS,FRANCEUNIFESP,EPM,DEPT DERMATOL,SAO PAULO,BRAZILWeb of Scienc