Thirteen-year-old raises concern over flesh-eating ulcer
Suffering from the flesh-eating ulcer, 13-year-old student demands better government funding for research into the infectious disease. Photo: shutterstock
(Web Desk) - As Ella Crofts, a 13-year-old Australian student slowly recovers from Buruli ulcer doctors have warned that the infectious disease may rapidly spread in developing countries.
The ulcer that basically is a skin disease usually found in developing countries, according to health authorities, has so far targeted 159 people since January 2017, which is nearly three times the number of cases recorded three years ago, reported BBC.
While experts still have not figured out the causes and preventions of the disease, 13-year-old Croft says her condition started with a sore knee that worsened into an open wound last April.
"Slowly it got worse, with my knee becoming swollen and inflamed, until one day, the skin started breaking down," said Croft in a statement online.
“Dry swab tests failed to pick up any bacteria, and antibiotics for common infections also didn t stop my knee’s condition getting worse,” the 13-year-old outdoor loving student added.
While talking to BBC, Associate Prof Daniel O Brien at the Geelong and Royal Melbourne Hospitals said: "The bacteria gets under the skin and slowly eats its way through the skin and the tissue underneath a limb until it s treated. The longer you leave it the worse it gets, it s a progressive, destructive infection."
Croft, who so far has had three operations and months of powerful antibiotics to treat the destructive infection, says that even six months of quality medical care hasn’t helped her recover.
The Mycobacterium Ulcerans disease, commonly known as Buruli Ulcer is a skin disease caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium ulcerans. The bacterium emits toxins that destroy skin cells, small blood vessels and the fat under the skin, leading to ulcers forming and skin loss. The ulcer gets bigger with time and can lead to permanent disfigurement or disability.
Health experts so far do not know how the disease is transmitted to humans but it is believed that it arises from the environment and soil.
According to BBC, the affected teenager has set up a petition calling on federal and state government to increase research into the disease.
While the disease is more commonly found in rural West Africa, Central Africa, New Guinea, Latin America and tropical regions of Asia, in Australia, cases of Buruli ulcers other than the localised coastal areas of Victoria, have also been diagnosed in the tropical regions of Queensland.
