ArticlePLoS neglected tropical diseases2014
Mycobacterium ulcerans fails to infect through skin abrasions in a guinea pig infection model: implications for transmission.
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 37 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
37 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 72 citations in OpenAlex.
- Transmission models of Mycobacterium ulcerans: A systematic review.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2025Pooled it
- A need for null models in understanding disease transmission: the example of Mycobacterium ulcerans (Buruli ulcer disease).FEMS microbiology reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Human-induced pressures and environmental factors drive the distribution of neglected tropical disease Buruli ulcer.Communications medicine · 2026Article
- Integrated action for skin NTDs: Deconstructing transmission, addressing knowledge gaps, and championing one health strategies.Nature communications · 2026Review
- Comparative analysis of Buruli ulcer in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire: A cross-sectional study.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2026Article
- Buruli ulcer.Nature reviews. Disease primers · 2025Review
- Buruli ulcer in Australia: Evidence for a new endemic focus at Batemans Bay, New South Wales.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2024Article
- Buruli ulcer surveillance in south-eastern Australian possums: Infection status, lesion mapping and internal distribution of Mycobacterium ulcerans.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2024Article
- 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
- Mycobacterium ulcerans not detected by PCR on human skin in Buruli ulcer endemic areas of south eastern Australia.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2023Article
- A human model of Buruli ulcer: The case for controlled human infection and considerations for selecting a Mycobacterium ulcerans challenge strain.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2023Review
- Mycobacterial Adhesion: From Hydrophobic to Receptor-Ligand Interactions.Microorganisms · 2022Review
- Linking theOne health (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2021Review
- Understanding the transmission of Mycobacterium ulcerans: A step towards controlling Buruli ulcer.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2021Review
- Community-based geographical distribution of Mycobacterium ulcerans VNTR-genotypes from the environment and humans in the Nyong valley, Cameroon.Tropical medicine and health · 2021Article
- Introduction of Mycobacterium ulcerans disease in the Bankim Health District of Cameroon follows damming of the Mapé River.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2020Article
- Pharmacologic management ofExpert review of clinical pharmacology · 2020Review
- Stable and Local Reservoirs of Mycobacterium ulcerans Inferred from the Nonrandom Distribution of Bacterial Genotypes, Benin.Emerging infectious diseases · 2020Article
- Buruli ulcer: The Efficacy of Innate Immune Defense May Be a Key Determinant for the Outcome of Infection WithFrontiers in microbiology · 2020Review
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Transmission of M. ulcerans, the etiological agent of Buruli ulcer, from the environment to humans remains an enigma despite decades of research. Major transmission hypotheses propose 1) that M. ulcerans is acquired through an insect bite or 2) that bacteria enter an existing wound through exposure to a contaminated environment. In studies reported here, a guinea pig infection model was developed to determine whether Buruli ulcer could be produced through passive inoculation of M. ulcerans onto a superficial abrasion. The choice of an abrasion model was based on the fact that most bacterial pathogens infecting the skin are able to infect an open lesion, and that abrasions are extremely common in children. Our studies show that after a 90d infection period, an ulcer was present at intra-dermal injection sites of all seven animals infected, whereas topical application of M. ulcerans failed to establish an infection. Mycobacterium ulcerans was cultured from all injection sites whereas infected abrasion sites healed and were culture negative. A 14d experiment was conducted to determine how long organisms persisted after inoculation. Mycobacterium ulcerans was isolated from abrasions at one hour and 24 hours post infection, but cultures from later time points were negative. Abrasion sites were qPCR positive up to seven days post infection, but negative at later timepoints. In contrast, M. ulcerans DNA was detected at intra-dermal injection sites throughout the study. M. ulcerans was cultured from injection sites at each time point. These results suggest that injection of M. ulcerans into the skin greatly facilitates infection and lends support for the role of an invertebrate vector or other route of entry such as a puncture wound or deep laceration where bacteria would be contained within the lesion. Infection through passive inoculation into an existing abrasion appears a less likely route of entry.
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