Flesh-eating ulcer ‘epidemic’ taking hold in regional Victoria

VICTORIA is facing a “rapidly worsening epidemic” of a flesh-eating ulcer, with experts urgently calling for more funding to find ways to stop the spread of the Bairnsdale ulcer.

Cases of the infection, that can be so severe patients lose their limbs, are on the rise in parts of regional Victoria, warn experts from Barwon Health, the Geelong Centre for Emerging Infectious Diseases and CSIRO.

Also know as the Buruli or Daintree ulcer, the infection is caused by bacteria that destroys the skin and soft tissue.

While it can be treated with antibiotics, severe cases can lead to disability and cosmetic deformity. It’s estimated to cost $14,000 per patient to treat the disease.

Barwon Health infectious diseases consultant Associate Professor Daniel O’Brien said the number of cases was rapidly increasing, becoming more severe in nature and occurring in more areas of Victoria than previously recorded.

There were a 182 new cases of the ulcer in 2016 and 275 last year and 30 cases reported so far this year.

Efforts to contain the spread of the disease have been hampered by the lack of understanding about how it’s transmitted to humans.

It’s linked to stagnant water in wetlands with suggestions that irrigation, floods, road construction, mosquitoes, aquatic insects or possums could help it spread.

In an article published in the Medical Journal of Australia today, Dr O’Brien wrote that most cases occurred on the Mornington and Bellarine peninsulas with infections more common in warmer months.

He is a part of a group of experts calling on governments to inject funding into research to work out where the bacteria lives, how it is transmitted to humans and why the disease was increasing in Victoria.

“The time to act is now, and we advocate for local, regional and national governments to urgently commit to funding the research needed to stop Buruli ulcer,” he wrote.

A spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services said it was carrying out ongoing surveillance of the skin disease and considerable effort was under way to investigate how it transfers to humans from the environment, where it occurs naturally.