ArticlePLoS neglected tropical diseases2017
Mycobacterium ulcerans low infectious dose and mechanical transmission support insect bites and puncturing injuries in the spread of Buruli ulcer.
Article in PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 56 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
56 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 114 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
- Field Survey of Freshwater Invertebrates Reveals That Several Groups Are Potential Carriers of the Fungal PathogenEcology and evolution · 2026Article
- Integrated action for skin NTDs: Deconstructing transmission, addressing knowledge gaps, and championing one health strategies.Nature communications · 2026Review
- A refined low-dose murine model ofmBio · 2025Article
- Management of Mycobacterium ulcerans infection (Buruli ulcer) in Australia: consensus statement.The Medical journal of Australia · 2025Article
- Detection ofApplied and environmental microbiology · 2025Article
- Epidemiology of Buruli Ulcer in Victoria, Australia, 2017-2022.Emerging infectious diseases · 2025Review
- A composite subunit vaccine confers full protection against Buruli ulcer disease in the mouse footpad model of Mycobacterium ulcerans infection.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2025Article
- Article
- 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
- Experimental infection of ringtail possums (Pseudocheirus peregrinus) with Mycobacterium ulcerans, the agent of Buruli ulcer.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- A low-cost and versatile paramagnetic bead DNA extraction method forApplied and environmental microbiology · 2024Article
- Systematic review: Global host range, case fatality and detection rates ofJournal of clinical tuberculosis and other mycobacterial diseases · 2024Review
- Marine sponge microbe provides insights into evolution and virulence of the tubercle bacillus.PLoS pathogens · 2024Article
- Mycobacterium ulcerans challenge strain selection for a Buruli ulcer controlled human infection model.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2024Article
- Mosquitoes provide a transmission route between possums and humans for Buruli ulcer in southeastern Australia.Nature microbiology · 2024Article
- Comprehensive Case-Control Study of Protective and Risk Factors for Buruli Ulcer, Southeastern Australia.Emerging infectious diseases · 2023Article
- Mycobacterium ulcerans not detected by PCR on human skin in Buruli ulcer endemic areas of south eastern Australia.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Addressing the transmission enigma of the neglected disease Buruli ulcer (BU) is a World Health Organization priority. In Australia, we have observed an association between mosquitoes harboring the causative agent, Mycobacterium ulcerans, and BU. Here we tested a contaminated skin model of BU transmission by dipping the tails from healthy mice in cultures of the causative agent, Mycobacterium ulcerans. Tails were exposed to mosquito (Aedes notoscriptus and Aedes aegypti) blood feeding or punctured with sterile needles. Two of 12 of mice with M. ulcerans contaminated tails exposed to feeding A. notoscriptus mosquitoes developed BU. There were no mice exposed to A. aegypti that developed BU. Eighty-eight percent of mice (21/24) subjected to contaminated tail needle puncture developed BU. Mouse tails coated only in bacteria did not develop disease. A median incubation time of 12 weeks, consistent with data from human infections, was noted. We then specifically tested the M. ulcerans infectious dose-50 (ID50) in this contaminated skin surface infection model with needle puncture and observed an ID50 of 2.6 colony-forming units. We have uncovered a biologically plausible mechanical transmission mode of BU via natural or anthropogenic skin punctures.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.