ArticlePLoS neglected tropical diseases2010
Seasonal and regional dynamics of M. ulcerans transmission in environmental context: deciphering the role of water bugs as hosts and vectors.
Article in PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 52 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
52 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 96 citations in OpenAlex.
- A need for null models in understanding disease transmission: the example of Mycobacterium ulcerans (Buruli ulcer disease).FEMS microbiology reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Association between footwear use and neglected tropical diseases: a systematic review and meta-analysis.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2014Pooled it
- Ecology and transmission of Buruli ulcer disease: a systematic review.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2010Pooled it
- Trial
- Canonical fact versus hypothesis testing to decipher transmission of non-tuberculous and tuberculous mycobacteria: a comparative review.Clinical microbiology reviews · 2025Review
- Range Expansion of the Giant Water BugEcology and evolution · 2025Article
- Territorial and gender-linked risk factors for Buruli ulcer in Southern Benin: A case-control study using geographic and behavioral surveying.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2025Article
- Seasonality and mycobacterial infectious diseases in animals and humans: is there a generality of seasonal patterns for mycobacterial infections?Infectious diseases of poverty · 2025Review
- Systematic review: Global host range, case fatality and detection rates ofJournal of clinical tuberculosis and other mycobacterial diseases · 2024Review
- Emergence and spread ofMicrobiology spectrum · 2024Article
- A combined field study of Buruli ulcer disease in southeast Benin proposing preventive strategies based on epidemiological, geographic, behavioural and environmental analyses.PLOS global public health · 2022Article
- Linking theOne health (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2021Review
- Article
- Recombinant Antibodies against Mycolactone.Toxins · 2019Article
- Modelling the spatial distribution of aquatic insects (Order Hemiptera) potentially involved in the transmission of Mycobacterium ulcerans in Africa.Parasites & vectors · 2018Article
- Chitin Increases Mycobacterium ulcerans Growth in Acidic Environments.Microbes and environments · 2018Article
- Article
- Climate Change and the Neglected Tropical Diseases.Advances in parasitology · 2018Review
- Seasonal Pattern of Mycobacterium ulcerans, the Causative Agent of Buruli Ulcer, in the Environment in Ghana.Microbial ecology · 2017Article
- Global and local environmental changes as drivers of Buruli ulcer emergence.Emerging microbes & infections · 2017Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
17 authors at 7 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundBuruli ulcer, the third mycobacterial disease after tuberculosis and leprosy, is caused by the environmental mycobacterium M. ulcerans. Various modes of transmission have been suspected for this disease, with no general consensus acceptance for any of them up to now. Since laboratory models demonstrated the ability of water bugs to transmit M. ulcerans, a particular attention is focused on the transmission of the bacilli by water bugs as hosts and vectors. However, it is only through detailed knowledge of the biodiversity and ecology of water bugs that the importance of this mode of transmission can be fully assessed. It is the objective of the work here to decipher the role of water bugs in M. ulcerans ecology and transmission, based on large-scale field studies. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL
findingsThe distribution of M. ulcerans-hosting water bugs was monitored on previously unprecedented time and space scales: a total of 7,407 water bugs, belonging to large number of different families, were collected over one year, in Buruli ulcer endemic and non endemic areas in central Cameroon. This study demonstrated the presence of M. ulcerans in insect saliva. In addition, the field results provided a full picture of the ecology of transmission in terms of biodiversity and detailed specification of seasonal and regional dynamics, with large temporal heterogeneity in the insect tissue colonization rate and detection of M. ulcerans only in water bug tissues collected in Buruli ulcer endemic areas. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: The large-scale detection of bacilli in saliva of biting water bugs gives enhanced weight to their role in M. ulcerans transmission. On practical grounds, beyond the ecological interest, the results concerning seasonal and regional dynamics can provide an efficient tool in the hands of sanitary authorities to monitor environmental risks associated with Buruli ulcer.
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Registered trials
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