Abstract
The influence afforded by the animal age at the moment of inoculation upon the rate of evolution of the murine leprosy was studied in rats and hamsters, peritoneally inoculated with M. lepraemurium.
The results based on the evolution of the leprosy lesions and on the rate of evolution of the disease show, as a concequence of the animal age at the moment of inoculation: 1) In rats the length of the resting phase of the lesion evolution becomes altered; It is longer in suckling than in adult rats; 2) The initial phase of the disease evolution is shorter in suckling than adults hamsters.
The rate of evolution of the murine leprosy is similar both in suckling and in young adult rats, showing that it is not influenced by the age at the moment of inoculation.
In suckling rats, in opposite to what happens to young adult ones, there is no correlation between the size of inoculum and the mean of survival.
