Buruli ulcer is a rare disease, but the condition is rising in Australia. According to reports, mosquitoes spread the flesh-eating disease from a bacteria they acquired from possums.
Mosquitoes Spread Buruli Ulcer From Possums' Flesh-Eating Bacteria
Some mosquitoes flying down under may carry harmful bacteria that eat human flesh. It is believed that the mosquitoes were carriers of the bacteria from possums to humans, Science News reported.
The bacteria that causes Buruli ulcer, a disfiguring skin condition mostly affecting regions of Australia and Africa, is called Mycobacterium ulcerans. While antibiotics can speed up the full recovery of ulcers, untreated cases can result in scarring, long-term deformity, and disability.
The sickness can affect other animals besides humans. The native possums of Australia, such as the common ringtail (Pseudocheirus peregrinus), also get ulcers and pass the bacteria in their feces. It is believed that possums spread the bacteria to humans, and scientists have hypothesized that mosquitoes may be involved through some interaction with diseased possums.
To control the sickness, it may be helpful to understand precisely which animals may be home to the germs and how they come into touch with humans. But no connection had been made between the possums, the mosquitoes, and the humans.
Surveys of mosquitoes in southeast Australia have now established the connection. Molecular microbiologist Timothy Stinear presented research on caught mosquitoes on June 18 at the ASM Microbe 2023 meeting, showing that a small portion of the insects had recently fed on possums and people.
Genetic tests also demonstrated that M. ulcerans bacteria found in mosquitoes, possums, and people are the same based on a preliminary study that has not yet been peer-reviewed.
The discovery that the three bacteria had identical DNA "really [ties] up that transmission chain between all of these species," according to Stinear of the University of Melbourne in Australia.
Jennifer Guthrie, a microbiologist, and epidemiologist at Western University in London, Canada, who wasn't involved in the study, added that the research offers "pretty compelling" evidence that mosquitoes might be spreading the disease in Australia.
What is Buruli Ulcer?
Buruli ulcer is a disease caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium ulcerans. Although it can also harm the bone, it primarily affects the skin. Typically, cases are found in the tropics, mostly in West Africa and Australia, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Ulcers on the arms or legs are frequently caused by infection and can harm the skin or soft tissue. If the illness is not appropriately managed, it may result in permanent deformity or functional incapacity.
Buruli ulcer frequently begins as a nodule, plaque, or edema, a widespread swelling of the face, arms, or legs without any associated discomfort, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The illness may advance without any pain or fever. The nodule, plaque, or edema will ulcerate after four weeks without therapy or occasionally even when receiving antibiotics. Deformities can sometimes result from damage to the bone.
The severity of the disease has been divided into three groups - Category I, which includes a single small lesion with a diameter of less than 5 cm (32%); Category II, which provides for non-ulcerative and ulcerative plaque and oedematous forms with a diameter of 5 to 15 cm (35%); and Category III, which includes disseminated and varied forms, such as osteomyelitis and joint involvement (33%).
The limbs frequently experience lesions: 35% of upper limb lesions, 55% of lower limb lesions, and 10% of other body site lesions. To distinguish the Buruli ulcer from other causes of ulceration, such as diabetes, arterial insufficiency, and venous insufficiency lesions, health professionals should be cautious when diagnosing patients with lower leg lesions.
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