Calls for urgent action as cases of Buruli ulcer soar in Victoria

VICTORIA is facing a “rapidly worsening epidemic” of a flesh-eating ulcer with experts urgently calling for more funding to find ways to stop it.

VICTORIA is facing a “rapidly worsening epidemic” of a flesh-eating ulcer with experts urgently calling for more funding to find ways to stop it.

Cases of Buruli ulcer, which can be so severe that patients lose limbs, are on the rise in parts of regional Victoria, warn experts from Barwon Health, the Geelong Centre for Emerging Infectious Diseases and CSIRO.

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Also known as the Bairnsdale or Daintree ulcer, the ­infection is caused by bacteria that destroys skin and soft tissue. While it can be treated with antibiotics, severe cases can lead to disability and cosmetic deformity.

It’s estimated to cost $14,000 per patient to treat.

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Cases of Buruli ulcer, which can be so severe that patients lose limbs, are on the rise in parts of regional Victoria.

Barwon Health infectious diseases consultant Associate Professor Daniel O’Brien said cases were ­rapidly increasing, becoming more severe, and ­occurring in more areas of ­Victoria.

There were a 182 new cases of the ulcer in 2016, 275 last year and 30 so far this year.

Efforts to contain the spread have been hampered by a lack of understanding about how it’s transmitted to humans.

It’s linked to stagnant water in wetlands with suggestions that irrigation, floods, road construction, mosquitoes, aquatic insects or possums could help it spread.

In an article in the Medical Journal of Australia on Monday, Professor O’Brien wrote that most cases occurred on the Mornington and Bellarine peninsulas, with infections more common in warmer months.

He is a part of a group of experts calling on governments to inject funding into research to work out where the bacteria lives, how it’s transmitted to humans and why the disease was increasing in Victoria.

Rose Bygrave was by the flesh-eating bug Bairnsdale Ulcer.

“The time to act is now, and we advocate for local, regional and national governments to urgently commit to funding the research needed to stop Buruli ulcer,” he wrote.

A spokesman for the ­Department of Health and Human Services said it was monitoring the skin disease and making considerable ­effort to learn how it got into humans.

He said almost $800,000 had been spent on research in Victoria over the past decade, including funding a rapid diagnostic test for earlier identification and treatment.

Experts are analysing possum faeces, conducting genome sequencing on samples from cases of Buruli ulcer and working with GPs to ensure rapid diagnosis and treatment.

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