What is Leprosy?
Leprosy (a.k.a. Hansen’s Disease) originates from a bacillus form pathogen called Mycobacterium leprae (M. leprae), a.k.a. Hansen’s coccus spirally, that multiplies slowly and is actually known to have the slowest replication process of all bacteria as it takes approximately 13 days for one cell to double. It grows and divides inside of macrophages and Schwann cells and has a rod-like shape with parallel sides and rounded edges, stretching to approximately 1-8 microns and 0.2-0.5 microns in diameter. It is an intracellular structure which takes on aerobic characteristics and has a waxy outer coating.
Leprosy is known as “The Living Death”, although it isn’t a prominent issue in North America, it is still an ongoing concern in many other countries. Due to the varying of symptoms, it can be hard to detect in a patient and in most cases, skin lesions are the first obvious sign, however by then, the disease would have already progressed to an advanced stage.
M. leprae is typically found in tropical countries as it prefers warmer temperatures of about 30 degrees Celsius where the environment is warm and moist for it multiply in. Since the normal human body temperature runs around 37 degrees Celsius, it creates an ideal host for the bacteria to multiply which is why it inhabits the body and multiplies at a constant pace. Leprosy mainly affects the skin, the peripheral nerves, mucosa of the upper respiratory tract and also the eyes and is known as the only bacteria to directly infect the nervous system. Most bacteria are airborne, as is M. leprae which is transmitted through respiration and bodily fluids through the air such as mucus from the nose and mouth or saliva.
M. leprae are considered a heterotrophic bacterium which means that they rely on others for sources and feed off of them for nutriment. They rely on their host (either a human or an armadillo) for nutrients as they are parasitic and harm their hosts in order to gain them causing both inward and outward harmful effects on their bodies. Since M. leprae do not have mouths, they have special membranes on their cell walls to allow nutrients to diffuse through. Sugars attained from the hosts are metabolized into polysaccharides and stored as potential energy until needed.