Point Lonsdale woman reveals what it’s like to get the Bairnsdale ulcer

It can be contracted from something as simple as a march fly bite, but healing the flesh-eating Bairnsdale ulcer is no quick fix. One Bellarine Peninsula woman has given an insight into what it takes. WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGE

Point Lonsdale’s Ali Waight still bears the scar of the Buruli ulcer years after contracting it.

The 45-year-old is believed to have contracted the condition – also known as the Bairnsdale ulcer – via a March fly bite, during the month of March 2018.

She was participating in a fundraising walk for cancer and was bitten in Point Lonsdale on the promenade.

By early June that year, she noticed a raw looking sore at the location of the bite, and a few weeks later her leg was swollen and began to ache.

Ali Waight. The scar on her knee is where the ulcer was located.

A social media posts made by Ali Waight

Ms Waight was diagnosed with the Buruli ulcer, and prescribed an eight week course of strong antibiotics, which she called her “depressants”.

“I found my usually upbeat, positive nature changed,” she said.

“I felt incredibly tired, emotional and teary.”

The Bairnsdale ulcer was positioned on Ms Waight’s patellar tendon, so it was incredibly painful with the slightest movement of the knee.

Ms Waight was unable to swim, play with her kids, or ride a bike.

She underwent two surgeries: one in July 2018 and another in early 2019.

Luckily, after the second surgery, her condition improved.

Ms Waight said while her knee has healed over, it hosts a “pretty significant scar”.

“I don’t wear mini skirts or anything,” she said.

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“I can’t kneel on that knee.”

But she is relieved she has regained proper use of the leg.

“After the second surgery in early 2019 it’s healed really quickly which was good.”

Ms Waight said she has had two friends struck by the ulcer this year.

Before the ulcer, Ms Waight “never really worried” about mosquitoes, which are thought to play a role in transmission, but is now vigilant about protection.

“I did find it really debilitating,” she said.

Originally published as Point Lonsdale woman reveals what it’s like to get the Bairnsdale ulcer