Correlation between occurrence of leprosy and fossil fuels: role of fossil fuel bacteria in the origin and global epidemiology of leprosy
Chakrabarty, A.N.; Dastidar, S.G.
Indian Journal of Experimental Biology 27(6): 483-496
1989
ISSN/ISBN: 0019-5189 PMID: 2684847 Document Number: 337189
The authors have accumulated extensive data on the world distribution of fossil fuels (coal and oil) and propose the hypothesis that this distribution correlates with the present and historic distribution of leprosy. Such a correlation is supported by the authors' ability to isolate chemoautotrophic nocardioform bacteria from the environment, especially associated with fossil fuel, and from leprosy patients, and also from cases of "animal leprosy".