Australia: Flesh-eating ulcer ‘epidemic stumps doctors

FOX: Doctors in Australia are looking for answers as they continue to investigate a “worsening epidemic” that’s been plaguing the state of Victoria in recent years: the Buruli ulcer, an infection caused by flesh-eating bacteria.

“It mainly affects the skin but can also affect the bone,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states on its website. “Cases are generally seen in the tropics, primarily in West Africa and Australia.”

At first, it looks like a small spider bite or bump – but within weeks, the lesion starts to swell and deepen due to Mycobacterium eating away at your skin and soft tissue.

“Unless [it’s] treated with strong antibiotics, it could grow into a gaping ulcerated wound that may take a year to heal and even need surgical reconstruction,” the University of Melbourne explained in a report on Monday.

Cases have spiked by 400 percent in the south-eastern Australian state in the past four years, according to the BBC. In 2017 alone, the state saw a record 236 cases – a 51 percent increase from the previous year, a new study published in the Medical Journal of Australia reveals. That’s compared to the average 2,000 cases seen worldwide per year.

It’s a difficult diease to curb, experts say, because it’s unknown how people get the Buruli ulcer. However, some believe mosquitoes may be to blame, as most ulcers are located on people’s arms or legs.

“One possibility is that the disease is passed to humans from some insects that are found in water,” the CDC states, though that’s just one theory.   more here

SNIP: They can look at the map and still say they’re stumped? lol.