Electron microscopic observations of acid-fast bacilli in nasal mucosal biopsies of lepromatous leprosy patients.

The fine structure of acid-fast bacilli in nasal mucosal lepromas of lepromatous leprosy patients was studied in ultrathin sections by the electron microscope. The cell envelope of the bacilli was the main point of these observations. The electron microscopic examination of some of the bacilli revealed the envelope to be multilaminate. Some of the cellular matter was filled with an electron-less-dense, amorphous substance, surrounded with a membrane-like structure, and was adherent to the outermost layer of the bacillary cell envelope.