Simultaneous detection and differentiation between Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis using novel polymerase chain reaction primers.

We have developed a polymerase chain reaction-based method to detect and distinguish Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis using a single set of primers based on a 45-bp difference in the amplicon size of their rpoT gene. This method can also help in detecting the cases of co-infection in a single experiment.