But he did identify Mycobacterium leprae, and that is good enough cover for the spin-doctors.

ECONOMIST: How not to abolish leprosy

Tests in Japan and the Philippines show that after three days with the skin patch, those infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the germ that causes tuberculosis, develop redness and swelling round it.

ECONOMIST: A poor diagnosis

Given the recent unravelling, by the Pasteur Institute in France, of the genome of Mycobacterium leprae, the organism that causes the disease, science is better poised to carry out such research than ever before.

ECONOMIST: How not to abolish leprosy

The result: an infection called mycobacterium fortuitum.

CNN: For pedicures, be careful where you step

Researchers writing in The Lancet do not know exactly why Mycobacterium abscessus - which is distantly related to the bacteria that causes tuberculosis - is more likely to infect people with cystic fibrosis but it could be related to problems with the immune system.

BBC: Cystic fibrosis bug 'can spread between patients'