lepromin Med.
(ˈlɛprəʊmɪn)
Also -ine.
[a. G. lepromin (P. Bargehr 1927, in Zeitschr. f. Immunitätsf. und exper. Ther. XLIX. 347): see leproma and -in1.]
A boiled saline extract of lepromatous tissue. So lepromin test, a test involving intradermal injection of lepromin and examination for a nodule at the site (see quot. 1951).
| 1932 Monthly Bull. Philippine Health Service XII. 300 The leprolin (lepromin) used by Mitsuda, Bargehr, de Langen, de Vogel, Mariani, Muir and Hayashi were prepared in different ways. 1940 Rogers & Muir Leprosy (ed. 2) 248 The lepromin test is thus of use in measuring the natural resistance of the patient to leprous infection. 1951 Whitby & Hynes Med. Bacteriol. (ed. 5) xiv. 267 The lepromin test consists of the intradermal injection of a small quantity of the extract. The test is positive in milder types of leprosy and in many healthy contacts; it is negative in the more severe types of the disease which have a bad outlook. 1959 G. Greene Congo Jrnl. in In Search of a Character (1961) 89 Lepromine used to determine the resistance of an undetermined patient. 1973 Bryceson & Pfaltzgraff Leprosy for Students Med. vi. 62 Infection with M[ycobacterium] tuberculosis, immunization with BCG or previous skin testing with lepromin may, but does not necessarily, induce lepromin positivity in a normal person. |