Buruli Ulcer - Identification of The Disease and Its Pathogen

Identification of The Disease and Its Pathogen

James Augustus Grant, in his book A Walk across Africa (1864), describes how his leg became grossly swollen and stiff with later a copious discharge. This was almost certainly the severe oedematous form of the disease, and is the first known description of the infection. Buruli ulcer disease was identified in 1897 by Sir Albert Cook, a British physician, at Mengo Hospital in Kampala, Uganda. A detailed description of the disease was written in 1948 by Professor Peter MacCallum and his colleagues, who were treating patients from the Bairnsdale district, near Melbourne, Australia. They were the first to identify Mycobacterium ulcerans as the pathogen causing it. The disease was so named after Buruli County in Uganda (now called Nakasongola District), because of the many cases that occurred there in the 1960s. The incidence of the disease has recently been rising in tropical Africa.

In March 2008, researchers announced the first isolation of M. ulcerans from the environment. This indicates that the disease is transmitted via aquatic areas rather than person to person. An international team of researchers led by University of Melbourne scientist Dr Tim Stinear has sequenced the entire genome of M. ulcerans.