First case of Mycobacterium ulcerans disease (Bairnsdale or Buruli ulcer) acquired in New South Wales

Med J Aust. 2007 Jan 15;186(2):62-3. doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2007.tb00801.x.

Abstract

Mycobacterium ulcerans is a slow-growing environmental bacterium that causes Buruli ulcer (also known as Bairnsdale ulcer in Victoria and Daintree ulcer in northern Queensland). We describe two patients with laboratory-confirmed Buruli ulcer who were infected either in New South Wales or overseas. A molecular epidemiological investigation demonstrated that, while one case was probably acquired in Papua New Guinea, the other was most likely to have been acquired in southern NSW. To our knowledge, this is the first case of M. ulcerans infection acquired in NSW.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Environmental Microbiology
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Mycobacterium Infections, Nontuberculous / etiology*
  • Mycobacterium ulcerans / genetics
  • Mycobacterium ulcerans / isolation & purification*
  • Papua New Guinea
  • Skin Diseases, Bacterial / etiology
  • Skin Ulcer / etiology*
  • Skin Ulcer / microbiology
  • Tandem Repeat Sequences