The mouse footpad test--sensitive to small proportions of drug-resistant bacilli in a sample of M. leprae.

: In experiments at the Radda Barnen Research Laboratories of the SLR & TC Karigiri, the mouse footpad test was demonstrated to detect DDS-resistant M.leprae even if as few as 0.1% (1 in 1000) of the M. leprae tested were DDS-resistant. The mouse footpad test appears to be sensitive to minute proportions of drug-resistant bacilli in samples of M. leprae tested.