“It has always been my concern to touch people with leprosy, trying to show in a simple action that they are not reviled, nor are we repulsed.” - Princess Diana
ABSTRACT
Introduction- Leprosy is one of the most debilitating chronic infectious disorders which can involve virtually every organ of the body. Despite being advanced in every sphere of medical science, India is still crippled by this infectious disease which is still a public health problem. Recently, it has been postulated that leprosy patients harbor potentially pathogenic microbes which could contribute the inflammation and progression of disease.
Objectives- This study was aimed at identifying the bacterial species that could possibly modulate mycobacterium leprae (M. leprae) in leprosy patients over lesional and non-lesional skin.
Material and Methods- Skin swab samples were taken for 70 leprosy patients from lesional and non-lesional skin. As part of the control group 70 healthy volunteers were recruited. The microbiota in both groups were analyse microbiota using nested Polymerase Chain Reaction-Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) and 16S rRNA profiles.
Results- The representative bacteria isolated from health controls was Staphylococcus. Contrastingly, this microbiota was heavily underrepresented in leprosy cases. The major microorganisms obtained from lesional and nonlesional skin of leprosy patients were Taxa Firmicutes and Proteobacterium, respectively. These findings suggest that there is dysbiosis in the normal skin microbiota in case of leprosy.
Limitations- Absence of immunological analysis.
Conclusion- There are definitive changes in core microbiota in leprosy patients compared to unaffected individuals. Such diversity supports the existence of dysbiosis in skin due to leprosy. Our results suggest that these differences in skin commensals could be utilized as potential therapeutic targets for leprosy patients.