Mycobacterium ulcerans Population Genomics To Inform on the Spread of Buruli Ulcer across Central Africa

Vandelannoote, Koen; Phanzu, Delphin Mavinga; Kibadi, Kapay; Eddyani, Miriam; Meehan, Conor J.; Jordaens, Kurt; Leirs, Herwig; Portaels, Françoise; Stinear, Timothy P.; Harris, Simon R.; Jong, Bouke C. de

doi:10.1128/msphere.00472-18

Cited by 17 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 44 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Furthermore, to limit the incidence of Buruli ulcer in various endemic countries, it is crucial to identify the precise reservoirs and routes of transmission of the bacilli. In this respect, it has been proposed that humans are a main reservoir of the bacilli, 16,27 and that antibiotic treatment could break the epidemic cycle. However, the outbreak of Buruli ulcer in Australia since 2011 does not fully support such hypotheses because Australia is a country with a well developed health system, as well as the extinction of outbreaks before the introduction of antibiotics.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of well drilling on Buruli ulcer incidence in Benin: a case-control, quantitative survey

Degnonvi

Fleuret

Coudereau

et al. 2019

The Lancet Planetary Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Buruli ulcer is the third most common mycobacterial disease worldwide. The public health burden of this neglected tropical disease is large, particularly in poor areas of west and central Africa. The development of appropriate preventive strategies is hampered by an incomplete understanding of the epidemiology and transmission of the disease. We investigated the effect of the drilling of wells on Buruli ulcer incidence. Methods In this case-control, quantitative survey, we obtained field data for Buruli ulcer incidence over a 10-year period from a specialised centre that collected data for the Ouémé and Plateau departments in Benin, and data for well drilling from the Ministry of Energy, Water and Mines in Benin. The coordinates of the wells drilled were obtained during site visits. A case-control study was then done to investigate the role of well water use in protecting against Buruli ulcer. Findings We found a strong inverse correlation between the incidence of Buruli ulcer and the number of new wells drilled in the Bonou municipality (r 2 =0•8818). A case-control study (106 cases and 212 controls) showed that regular use of the water from the wells for washing, bathing, drinking, or cooking was protective against Buruli ulcer (adjusted odds ratio 0•1, 95% CI 0•04-0•44; p=0•0012). Interpretation This study opens up new possibilities for developing an effective yet affordable policy to fight the disease on a substantial geographical scale. Our study shows that providing access to protected water is an efficient and feasable way to reduce the incidence of Buruli ulcer.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of well drilling on Buruli ulcer incidence in Benin: a case-control, quantitative survey

Degnonvi

Fleuret

Coudereau

et al. 2019

The Lancet Planetary Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Thus, the most plausible hypothesis in the particular case of the Plateau region is based on the inability of the bacterium to develop for a period long enough in transitional aquatic reservoirs, thereby preventing the production of new genotypes. Treating humans against M. ulcerans infection might not be sufficient to break disease transmission chains as previously suggested (12).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…Australia (11,15). Recently, Vandelannoote et al described the bacterial distribution on a local scale in Congo (12).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Stable and Local Reservoirs of Mycobacterium ulcerans Inferred from the Nonrandom Distribution of Bacterial Genotypes, Benin

Coudereau¹,

Besnard²,

Robbe-Saule³

et al. 2020

Emerg. Infect. Dis.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

B uruli ulcer (BU) is a devastating necrotic human skin disease caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans (1). It is the third most common mycobacterial disease after tuberculosis and leprosy; ≈2,000 cases are reported each year worldwide, mostly in rural areas of West and Central Africa. The high number of patients with massive skin ulcers is a major problem because treatment of advanced disease is complex, and the consequent long-term disabilities can lead to social stigmatization and economic consequences for families and rural communities (2). BU is characterized by a focal endemicity, and M. ulcerans has potential primary environmental reservoirs in wetlands, rivers, and stagnant bodies of water (3,4). The exact mode of transmission to humans remains unclear, but studies have shown that inoculation into the subcutaneous tissues is required (5,6). Thus, suspicions have arisen that aquatic insects, mollusks, and fishes are reservoirs and that insect bites are the mode of transmission (7-9). Transmission through human-to-human contact has been ruled out as a potential mode of transmission because living near an infected family member does not pose a higher risk for infection (10). However, fundamental questions remain concerning the participation of humans in dissemination of the bacterium (11,12). Developing adapted preventive strategies requires identification of the environment that enables M. ulcerans development and the dynamics of the mycobacterium in the environment and in patients. However, because M. ulcerans cannot yet be cultured directly from environmental samples, comparison of M. ulcerans isolates retrieved in the environment with those in humans is impossible. Whole-genome sequencing (WGS), coupled with single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-based genotyping, has led to major advances in M. ulcerans genomics. This approach was applied recently to provide a description of the M. ulcerans population structure in Ghana (13). It has also been used to provide insights into the circulating genotypes in BUendemic regions of Cameroon (14) and to study the evolution of M. ulcerans in Africa and southeastern

show abstract

“…An uncorrelated log-normal relaxed molecular clock [25] was used with a coalescent Extended Bayesian Skyline Plot (EBSP) tree prior [26] and bModelTest [27] to infer a genome scale Mapé river basin M. ulcerans time-tree with tip-dates defined as the year of isolation (S1 Table). The models we selected here are based on previous Bayesian phylogenetic studies into African M. ulcerans [17,18] which employed model selection using path sampling [28] to compare the performance of various competing demographic and clock models. Analysis was performed in BEAST2 using a total of 5 independent chains of 800 million generations, with samples taken every 80,000 MCMC generations.…”

Section: Bayesian Phylogenetic Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These methods measure genetic divergence between DNA sequences and then impute the time elapsed since the sequences diverged from a common ancestor. Molecular-dating methods have recently been successfully applied to M. ulcerans outbreaks in Africa [17,18] and Oceania [19], revealing insights into reconstructed historical evolutionary trajectories. Here we used the same approaches by comparing the genome sequences of M. ulcerans isolates recovered from BU patients from the Mapé-Mbam basins, to (nr.311725).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Introduction of Mycobacterium ulcerans disease in the Bankim Health District of Cameroon follows damming of the Mapé River

et al. 2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Buruli ulcer (BU) is an emerging ulcerative skin disease caused by infection with Mycobacterium ulcerans. Efforts to control its spread have been hampered by our limited understanding of M. ulcerans reservoirs and transmission, and the factors leading to the emergence of BU disease in a particular region. In this report we investigate an anecdotal link between damming the Mapé River in Cameroon and the emergence of BU in the Health Districts bordering Lake Bankim, the impoundment created by the Mapé dam. We used bacterial population genomics and molecular dating to find compelling support for a 2000 M. ulcerans introduction event that followed about 10 years after the filling of the newly created impoundment in 1988. We compared the genomic reconstructions with high-resolution satellite imagery to investigate what major environmental alterations might have driven the emergence of the new focus.

show abstract

Mycobacterium ulcerans Population Genomics To Inform on the Spread of Buruli Ulcer across Central Africa

Cited by 17 publications

References 44 publications

Effect of well drilling on Buruli ulcer incidence in Benin: a case-control, quantitative survey

Effect of well drilling on Buruli ulcer incidence in Benin: a case-control, quantitative survey

Stable and Local Reservoirs of Mycobacterium ulcerans Inferred from the Nonrandom Distribution of Bacterial Genotypes, Benin

Introduction of Mycobacterium ulcerans disease in the Bankim Health District of Cameroon follows damming of the Mapé River

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About