Researchers separating marsupial faeces have warned that the bacterium that causes meat-eating ulcers is “unquestionably” present in a coastal NSW town.
Buruli ulcer has been known to occur in Australia since the 1940s, with cases reported in the Northern Territory and far north Queensland.
But the attack on the cases Victoriawhere an almost daily case linked to its rise in the southern NSW coastal town intrigued investigators.
A recently published analysis suggests it became endemic in the NSW town of Batemans Bay, about 110km south-east. ligula.
Researchers in the seaside town have reported only two known cases, in 2021 and 2023, and have also been able to read 27 other poo samples.
Possums are thought to be the main reservoir of ulcer-causing bacteria, with mosquitoes acting as an important transmitter to humans.
“The new cases we report here in Batemans Bay could be harbingers of disease expansion in NSW similar to Victoria,” a group of Australian researchers said in a report in the journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.
“The positive detection of excreta samples from Batemans Bay established without doubt that (the bacteria) were present in the local population.”
The bacteria found in Batemans Bay was distinct from the type prevalent in the most endemic areas of Victoria, including Melbourne, Geelong and surrounding areas.
Initially appearing like an insect bite, the lesion typically heals for weeks or months.
Early recognition and diagnosis is critical to prevent skin and tissue damage.
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If left untreated, severe ulceration and bark loss can occur.
In one case in Batemans Bay, a 94-year-old’s ring finger was cut off after a large skin lesion spread with ulcer bacteria.
The researchers said the many similarities in wildlife composition and insect presence between coastal Victoria and southern NSW likely made NSW health authorities against the progressive expansion of ulcer-endemic areas.
Questions remain as to why people pop up in places sometimes hundreds of kilometers apart.
The research was carried out by infectious disease doctors, pathologists and researchers across Victoria, NSW and the ACT.