Death of Mycobacterium leprae in Mice,and the Additional Effect of Dapsone Administration 1

Abstract

Summary

If the assumptions be valid that the lag phase of bacterial multiplication is constant when M. leprae are repeatedly harvested from untreated mice and passed to other mice of the same inbred strain, and that those M. leprae capable of multiplying in the mouse foot pad do so always at the same rate, then the results of these experiments may be interpreted to show that once the peak of bacterial multiplication has been reached, death of M. leprae ensues. Death of M. leprae appears to have occurred in mice during DDS treatment at the same rate as in the untreated mice, but the lag phase of bacterial growth was uniformly prolonged as a result of treatment.