International Journal of Leprosy

Work in connection with the immunology of leprosy has been pursued from two viewpoints. One is that of the laboratory worker, searching for a means of specific identification of · the causative germ of the disease, with relation to micro-organisms cultivated from patients. The other is that of the clinical worker who seeks a method of specific diagnosis of cases. This second aspect of the problem is of most concern to the majority of leprosy workers, who are in need of such an aid in the diagnosis of early and doubtful cases and a means of detecting infected persons before the appearance of symptoms. With increasing emphasis on work in the epidemiological field, and with at the same time extension of the basis of clinical diagnosis of the disease at least presumptive to characters less certain of identification than the familiar and unequivocal "cardinal" signs, the need of a reasonably sensitive and dependable . immunological test is felt more than ever before. As yet we seem far from the desired accomplishment; in fact, with disappointments that have been met along certain lines of approach that seemed possibly hopeful until they were explored, the prospect is rather discouraging. Considering the findings of many investigators in leprosy,