Thank you for visiting nature. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer.
In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript. A Publisher Correction to this article was published on 15 April Buruli ulcer, a chronic subcutaneous infection caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans , is increasing in prevalence in southeastern Australia. Possums are a local wildlife reservoir for M.
We conducted extensive field survey analyses of M. PCR screening of trapped mosquitoes revealed a significant association between M. Spatial scanning statistics revealed overlap between clusters of M. Bacterial genomic analysis confirmed shared single-nucleotide-polymorphism profiles for M.
These findings indicate Ae. Mycobacterium ulcerans is the causative agent of a neglected tropical skin disease called Buruli ulcer, a necrotizing infection of skin and subcutaneous tissue 1. Buruli ulcer is rarely a fatal condition but it can cause severe tissue destruction if not diagnosed and managed effectively 2. Buruli ulcer has been described in more than 32 countries worldwide 3 and is an ongoing public health issue in West and Central Africa 2.
Buruli ulcer has also been unexpectedly surging in temperate southeastern Australia Extended Data Fig. How humans contract Buruli ulcer is a central question that has confounded public health control efforts and intrigued scientists since the discovery of M.
