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Faber WR, Menke H, Rutten V, et al. Lepra Bubalorum, a Potential Reservoir of . Front Microbiol. 2021;12:786921doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.786921.
Faber, W. R., Menke, H., Rutten, V., & Pieters, T. (2021). Lepra Bubalorum, a Potential Reservoir of . Frontiers in microbiology, 12786921. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.786921
Faber, William R, et al. "Lepra Bubalorum, a Potential Reservoir of ." Frontiers in microbiology vol. 12 (2021): 786921. doi: https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.786921
Faber WR, Menke H, Rutten V, Pieters T. Lepra Bubalorum, a Potential Reservoir of . Front Microbiol. 2021 Dec 02;12:786921. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.786921. eCollection 2021. PMID: 34925294; PMCID: PMC8674755.
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Front Microbiol. 2021 Dec 02;12:786921. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.786921. eCollection 2021.

Lepra Bubalorum, a Potential Reservoir of .

Frontiers in microbiology

William R Faber, Henk Menke, Victor Rutten, Toine Pieters

Affiliations

  1. Department of Dermatology, Amsterdam University Medical Centre (UMC), University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
  2. Faculty of Science, Freudenthal Institute, Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences (UIPS), Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands.
  3. Division of Infectious Disease and Immunology, Department of Biomolecular Health Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands.
  4. Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.

PMID: 34925294 PMCID: PMC8674755 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.786921

Abstract

In 1926, a mycobacterial skin disease was observed in water buffaloes by researchers in Indonesia. The disease was designated as skin tuberculosis, though it was hypothesized that it might be a form of leprosy or a leprosy-like disease. In a follow-up study (Ph.D. thesis Lobel, 1934, Utrecht University, Netherlands) a similar nodular skin disease was described in Indonesian water buffaloes and named "lepra bubalorum" or "nodular leprosy." Two decades later Kraneveld and Roza (1954) reported that, so far, the diagnosis lepra bubalorum had been made in 146 cases in Indonesia. After a final series of research reports by Indonesian veterinarians in 1961, no subsequent cases were published. Based on information from these reports, it can be concluded that, even though evidence of nerve involvement in buffaloes was not reported, similarities exist between lepra bubalorum and Hansen's disease (leprosy), i.e., nodular skin lesions with a chronic course and microscopically granulomatous reactions with AFB in globi in vacuoles. This raises the question as to whether these historical cases might indeed have been caused by

Copyright © 2021 Faber, Menke, Rutten and Pieters.

Keywords: Indonesia; M. leprae; M. leprae complex; animal reservoir; lepra bubalorum; water buffaloes

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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