Mycobacterium ulcerans disease is common in some humid tropical areas, particularly in parts of West Africa, and current management is by surgical excision of skin lesions ranging from early nodules to extensive ulcers (Buruli ulcer). Antibiotic therapy would be more accessible to patients in areas of Buruli ulcer endemicity. We report a study of the efficacy of antibiotics in converting early lesions (nodules and plaques) from culture positive to culture negative. Lesions were excised either immediately or after treatment with rifampin orally at 10 mg/kg of body weight and streptomycin intramuscularly at 15 mg/kg of body weight daily for 2, 4, 8, or 12 weeks and examined by quantitative bacterial culture, PCR, and histopathology for M. ulcerans. Lesions were measured during treatment. Five lesions excised without antibiotic treatment and five lesions treated with antibiotics for 2 weeks were culture positive, whereas three lesions treated for 4 weeks, five treated for 8 weeks, and three treated for 12 weeks were culture negative. No lesions became enlarged during antibiotic treatment, and most became smaller. Treatment with rifampin and streptomycin for 4 weeks or more inhibited growth of M. ulcerans in human tissue, and it provides a basis for proceeding to a trial of antibiotic therapy as an alternative to surgery for early M. ulcerans disease.

Abstract. This study examines some of the socioeconomic cost of treating 102 cases of Buruli ulcer between 1994 and 1996 at the St. Martin's Catholic Hospital in Agroyesum in the Amansie West district of the Ashanti region of Ghana. Seventy percent of the cases were children (up to 15 years of age). There was no sex difference in the distribution of cases. Hospitalization was prolonged (average ϭ 186 days in 1994, 103 days in 1995, and 102 days in 1996) with no significant age and sex differences. There were 10 limb amputations, 12 patients were left with contracture deformities, one patient lost sight in one eye, and two died of sepsis and tetanus. The average total treatment cost per patient was $966.85 (62% indirect) in 1994, $706.08 (75% indirect) in 1995, and $658.74 (79% indirect) in 1996. With increasing number of cases, high treatment costs, and serious complications, urgent attention should be given to the disease in terms of control and research efforts aimed at early detection and treatment.

BUD is an environmentally acquired infection strongly associated with exposure to river areas. Exposed skin may facilitate transmission. Until transmission is better defined, control strategies in BUD-endemic areas could include covering exposed skin.

Because of the emergence of Buruli ulcer disease, the World Health Organization launched a Global Buruli Ulcer Initiative in 1998. This indolent skin infection is caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans. During a study of risk factors for the disease in Ghana, adequate excisional skin-biopsy specimens were obtained from 124 clinically suspicious lesions. Buruli ulcer disease was diagnosed in 78 lesions since acid-fast bacilli (AFB) were found by histopathologic examination. Lesions with other diagnoses included filariasis (3 cases), zygomycosis (2 cases), ulcerative squamous cell carcinomas (2 cases), keratin cyst (1 case), and lymph node (1 case). Thirty-seven specimens that did not show AFB were considered suspected Buruli ulcer disease cases. Necrosis of subcutaneous tissues and dermal collagen were found more frequently in AFB-positive specimens compared with specimens from suspected case-patients (p<0.001). Defining histologic criteria for a diagnosis of Buruli ulcer disease is of clinical and public health importance since it would allow earlier treatment, leading to less deforming sequelae.

Punch biopsy specimens from Mycobacterium ulcerans disease lesions were used to compare the sensitivities and specificities of direct smear, culture, PCR, and histopathology in making a diagnosis of M. ulcerans disease in a field setting. PCR for the insertion element IS2404 was modified to include uracil-N-glycosylase and deoxyuridine triphosphate instead of deoxythymidine triphosphate to reduce the risk of cross contamination. The "gold standard" for confirmation of clinically diagnosed Buruli ulcer was a definite histological diagnosis, a positive culture for M. ulcerans, or a smear positive for acid-fast bacilli (AFB), together with a possible histological diagnosis. For 70 clinically diagnosed cases of M. ulcerans disease, the modified PCR was 98% sensitive and gave a rapid result. The sensitivities of microscopy, culture, and histology were 42%, 49%, and 82%, respectively. The use of a 4-mm punch biopsy specimen was preferred to a 6-mm punch biopsy specimen since the wound was less likely to bleed and to need stitching. Given adequate technical expertise and the use of controls, the PCR was viable in a teaching hospital setting in Ghana; and in routine practice, we would recommend the use of Ziehl-Neelsen staining of biopsy specimens to detect AFB, followed by PCR, in AFBnegative cases only, in order to minimize costs. Histology and culture remain important as quality control tests, particularly in studies of treatment efficacy.Mycobacterium ulcerans disease (Buruli ulcer) manifests as a nodule, papule, plaque, or edematous lesion prior to ulceration (5). The disease has been reported in more than 31 countries, mostly countries with a tropical climate (2). The recommended treatment has been surgical excision, but areas of endemicity in tropical countries are often rural, with unmade roads and relatively poor health care facilities (5).The clinical diagnosis of Buruli ulcer is relatively easy when a child from an area of endemicity presents looking well with a painless ulcer eroding into subcutaneous fat and the ulcer has undermined edges (2); but the disease can affect people of any age, and other ulcers can be mistaken for Buruli ulcer, particularly when they are around the ankles, for example, venous ulcer, cutaneous leishmaniasis, neurogenic ulcer, yaws, tropical ulcer, fungal lesions, and squamous cell carcinoma (7). Diagnosis is more difficult in the case of nodules, and the sensitivity of clinical diagnosis in experienced hands was 48% to 52% in one study (5). Confirmation of the clinical diagnosis of Buruli ulcer is becoming increasingly important now that there is growing evidence of a beneficial effect from treatment with antibiotics (4), which is beginning to replace excision surgery as the standard treatment. In the case of an ulcer, the diagnostic technique most often available in areas of endemicity is ZiehlNeelsen (ZN) staining for acid-fast bacilli (AFB) of a smear from a swab taken from below the undermined edge of the ulcer base, but its sensitivity is low (40%) (16) and the technique cann...