Only a century or more ago, there were those who thought that Leprosy was not caused by a germ because it was imagined to be a Curse of God . In fact, there are many places in the world where this superstitious concept still prevails. In the case of Leprosy, M.leprae is the source of the Antigens. Actually, the body s defence mechanism starts with the skin which is a good, protective covering.
Healthy skin inhibits the entry of germs except when it is cut.
The body s fluids are mildly antiseptic, with tears, sweat and gastric juices putting up a first-line of resistance to any germs that could bring on disease. However, if the invading germs manage to break through this first-line of defence, there are several types of Defence Cells which are specifically designed to ingest and digest these foreign invaders. In actual fact, a battle takes place within the body as the defence cells fight against the bacteria to drive them away and this is called Inflammation , which may be likened to the body s second-line of defence. The macrophage looks like an amoeba and sort of flows around the germ to take it into itself, there to be dissolved by certain chemicals or enzymes. The second type of protective mechanism is specific and the body s defence system can only recognise a foreign invader if it has experience in this identification of certain antigens.