Han Xiang Yang, Sizer Kurt Clement, Tan Hiok-Hee
Clinical Microbiology Laboratory, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.
J Drugs Dermatol. 2012 Feb;11(2):168-72.
A new leprosy-causing species, namely Mycobacterium lepromatosis, was discovered recently to be the cause of diffuse lepromatous leprosy (DLL) in Mexico. It is unknown whether this organism exists beyond Mexico.
We sought to determine the identity of the mycobacteria in the skin tissue of two patients from Singapore who died of DLL. DNA was extracted from archived biopsy tissue, and conserved polymerase chain reaction primers were used to amplify and sequence two to three mycobacterial genes in each skin sample.
Both M. lepromatosis and the well-known leprosy agent Mycobacterium leprae were identified in each DLL skin sample. The M. lepromatosis gene sequences from the Singapore cases matched 99.9% with the known Mexican M. lepromatosis strain, but they only matched the corresponding M. leprae sequences by 89.2%.
The new species M. lepromatosis exists beyond Mexico and is the cause of DLL in Singapore. It may cause dual infections along with M. leprae in endemic areas. Archived skin biopsy can be used to differentiate the leprosy agents.
最近发现一种新的致麻风病菌种，即瘤型麻风分枝杆菌，是墨西哥弥漫性瘤型麻风（DLL）的病因。尚不清楚这种微生物是否存在于墨西哥以外的地区。
我们试图确定两名死于DLL的新加坡患者皮肤组织中分枝杆菌的种类。从存档的活检组织中提取DNA，并使用保守的聚合酶链反应引物对每个皮肤样本中的两到三个分枝杆菌基因进行扩增和测序。
在每个DLL皮肤样本中均鉴定出瘤型麻风分枝杆菌和著名的麻风病病原体麻风分枝杆菌。来自新加坡病例的瘤型麻风分枝杆菌基因序列与已知的墨西哥瘤型麻风分枝杆菌菌株的匹配度为99.9%，但与相应的麻风分枝杆菌序列的匹配度仅为89.2%。
新物种瘤型麻风分枝杆菌存在于墨西哥以外的地区，是新加坡DLL的病因。在流行地区，它可能与麻风分枝杆菌引起双重感染。存档的皮肤活检可用于区分麻风病病原体。
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