mycobacterium lepre is a rod shaped bacteria which was first discovered in 1873 by hanson mycobacterium lepra is a non-tuberculosis mycobacteria and it causes a disease called leprosy or hansen disease in the u.s the animal reservoir for mycobacterium lepre are armadillos now mycobacterium lepre is an fast bacillus which means it's resistant to decolorization by acids and it has a high content of mycolic acid in its cell wall which makes it waxy hydrophobic and impermeable to routine stain like gram stain so it needs special staining methods to be visualized like zeal nielsen staining which uses carbol fusion
combined with phenol which is able to penetrate the waxy mycobacterial cell wall sign up for a free trial today and watch the full video on osmosis.org [Music] bye
