Mycobacterium leprae

**Semantic type:** Bacterium

**Definition:** A species of aerobic, Gram positive, rod shaped bacterium assigned to the phylum Actinobacteria. This species is acid fast, stains with carbol fuchsin rather than a traditional Gram stain, has the longest doubling time of all known bacteria, and has never been cultured in vitro. Mycobacterium leprae is pathogenic, being the causative agent of leprosy.

**Synonyms:** - MYCOBACTERIUM LEPRAE