ArticlePLoS neglected tropical diseases2014
First detection of Mycobacterium ulcerans DNA in environmental samples from South America.
Article in PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers.
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 37 citations in OpenAlex.
- Canonical fact versus hypothesis testing to decipher transmission of non-tuberculous and tuberculous mycobacteria: a comparative review.Clinical microbiology reviews · 2025Review
- Spatiotemporal distribution ofEmerging microbes & infections · 2025Article
- Systematic review: Global host range, case fatality and detection rates ofJournal of clinical tuberculosis and other mycobacterial diseases · 2024Review
- [Overview of infectious and non-infectious diseases in French Guiana in 2022].Medecine tropicale et sante internationale · 2023Review
- Understanding the transmission of Mycobacterium ulcerans: A step towards controlling Buruli ulcer.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2021Review
- Emerging human infectious diseases of aquatic origin: a comparative biogeographic approach using Bayesian spatial modelling.International journal of health geographics · 2019Article
- Whole-Genome Sequence of Mycobacterium ulcerans CSURP7741, a French Guianan Clinical Isolate.Microbiology resource announcements · 2019Article
- Comparison of Mycobacterium ulcerans (Buruli ulcer) and Leptospira sp. (Leptospirosis) dynamics in urban and rural settings.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2019Article
- Chitin Increases Mycobacterium ulcerans Growth in Acidic Environments.Microbes and environments · 2018Article
- Molecular detection of Mycobacterium ulcerans in the environment and its relationship with Buruli ulcer occurrence in Zio and Yoto districts of maritime region in Togo.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2018Article
- A protocol for culturing environmental strains of the Buruli ulcer agent, Mycobacterium ulcerans.Scientific reports · 2018Article
- Buruli Ulcer, a Prototype for Ecosystem-Related Infection, Caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans.Clinical microbiology reviews · 2018Review
- Global and local environmental changes as drivers of Buruli ulcer emergence.Emerging microbes & infections · 2017Review
- Deforestation-driven food-web collapse linked to emerging tropical infectious disease,Science advances · 2016Article
- Amazonian Triatomine Biodiversity and the Transmission of Chagas Disease in French Guiana: In Medio Stat Sanitas.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2016Article
- Article
- Analysis of the metabolome of Anopheles gambiae mosquito after exposure to Mycobacterium ulcerans.Scientific reports · 2015Article
- Buruli ulcer in traveler from Suriname, South America, to the Netherlands.Emerging infectious diseases · 2015Article
- Heterogeneity among Mycobacterium ulcerans from French Guiana revealed by multilocus variable number tandem repeat analysis (MLVA).PloS one · 2015Article
- Spatio-temporal patterns and landscape-associated risk of Buruli ulcer in Akonolinga, Cameroon.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2014Article
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 7 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The occurrences of many environmentally-persistent and zoonotic infections are driven by ecosystem changes, which in turn are underpinned by land-use modifications that alter the governance of pathogen, biodiversity and human interactions. Our current understanding of these ecological changes on disease emergence however remains limited. Buruli ulcer is an emerging human skin disease caused by the mycobacterium, Mycobacterium ulcerans, for which the exact route of infection remains unclear. It can have a devastating impact on its human host, causing extensive necrosis of the skin and underlying tissue, often leading to permanent disability. The mycobacterium is associated with tropical aquatic environments and incidences of the disease are significantly higher on floodplains and where there is an increase of human aquatic activities. Although the disease has been previously diagnosed in South America, until now the presence of M. ulcerans DNA in the wild has only been identified in Australia where there have been significant outbreaks and in western and central regions of Africa where the disease is persistent. Here for the first time, we have identified the presence of the aetiological agent's DNA in environmental samples from South America. The DNA was positively identified using Real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) on 163 environmental samples, taken from 23 freshwater bodies in French Guiana (Southern America), using primers for both IS2404 and for the ketoreductase-B domain of the M. ulcerans mycolactone polyketide synthase genes (KR). Five samples out of 163 were positive for both primers from three different water bodies. A further nine sites had low levels of IS2404 close to a standard CT of 35 and could potentially harbour M. ulcerans. The majority of our positive samples (8/14) came from filtered water. These results also reveal the Sinnamary River as a potential source of infection to humans.
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