Sharing essential knowledge with health researchers and policy makers

Communities of practice

Buruli ulcer said to be spreading

8 Oct 2008

Paul Chinnock

Source: Integrated Regional Information Networks (see original article)

A World Health Organization advocacy cartoon to promote awareness of Burul ulcer.

According to a report from the news service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)*, there are concerns that cases of Buruli ulcer are becoming more common. The disease is most frequent in West Africa where, according to WHO 2006 statistics, Ivory Coast has reported 24,000 cases and Ghana 11,000. Benin has 7,000 confirmed cases.

The news report quotes Roch Christian Johnson, director of Benin’s Programme to Control Buruli Ulcer, as saying that cases in Benin outnumber those reported because lack of knowledge about the disease, illiteracy, poverty and traditional healing often prevent people from going to medical facilities. It is not unusual for people to believe that the disease is the result of witchcraft.

The disease leaves its victims with bloody infected wounds and swollen skin ulcers, which at their worst, require surgery or amputation. It is important that treatment should be started at an early stage. The disease agent, Mycobacterium ulcerans, is related to the organisms which cause tuberculosis and leprosy. How it is transmitted to humans is still unknown. More details on the disease will be found the Buruli ulcer page of the WHO website.

* The OCHA news service – Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) – was established with the principal role of providing news and analysis about sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia for the humanitarian community.