Journal article

Ecology and transmission of buruli ulcer disease: A systematic review

RW Merritt, ED Walker, PLC Small, JR Wallace, PDR Johnson, ME Benbow, DA Boakye

Plos Neglected Tropical Diseases | Published : 2010

Abstract

Buruli ulcer is a neglected emerging disease that has recently been reported in some countries as the second most frequent mycobacterial disease in humans after tuberculosis. Cases have been reported from at least 32 countries in Africa (mainly west), Australia, Southeast Asia, China, Central and South America, and the Western Pacific. Large lesions often result in scarring, contractual deformities, amputations, and disabilities, and in Africa, most cases of the disease occur in children between the ages of 4-15 years. This environmental mycobacterium, Mycobacterium ulcerans, is found in communities associated with rivers, swamps, wetlands, and human-linked changes in the aquatic environment..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Grants

Awarded by Fogarty International Center


Funding Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the following research support from: grant no. R01TW007550 from the Fogarty International Center through the National Institutes of Health/National Science Foundation Ecology of Infectious Diseases Program; McCord Research Buruli Ulcer Foundation, Iowa City, Iowa; UBS Optimus Foundation, Zurich, Switzerland; PASSHE Faculty Professional Development Council and Millersville University Faculty Grants, Millersville, PA, and the World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.