Use of gas chromatography to differentiate Mycobacterium leprae from cultivable armadillo-derived mycobacteria, M. avium/intracellulare, and M. lepraemurium by analysis of secondary alcohols.

Two long-chain secondary alcohols, 2-octadecanol and 2-eicosanol, were demonstrated by gas chromatography in hydrolysates of Mycobacterium avium/intracellulare, in cultivable, armadillo-derived mycobacteria, and in M. lepraemurium grown in vivo, but they were not found in purified suspensions of M. leprae isolated from experimentally infected armadillos. Gas chromatographic analysis of these alcohols constitutes a method for rapid detection and quantification of contaminating mycobacteria in preparations of M. leprae intended, for example, for vaccine use. The technique may also be of value for critical evaluation of cultures of "in vitro-grown" M. leprae.