Dry-reagent-based PCR as a novel tool for laboratory confirmation of clinically diagnosed Mycobacterium ulcerans-associated disease in areas in the tropics where M. ulcerans is endemic.

ABSTRACT: After tuberculosis and leprosy, Buruli ulcer (BU), caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans, is the third most common mycobacterial disease in immunocompetent humans. The disease occurs in tropical countries, with foci in West Africa, Central Africa, and the western Pacific. BU is defined as an infectious disease involving the skin and the subcutaneous adipose tissue characterized by a painless nodule, papule, plaque, or edema, evolving into a painless ulcer with undermined edges and often leading to invalidating sequelae. Due to the fundamental lack of understanding of modes of transmission, disease control in endemic countries is limited to early case detection through improved active surveillance and surgical treatment. The laboratory confirmation of BU is complicated by the absence of a diagno

SUBMITTER: Siegmund V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC540149 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature