“…There is a shift in reporting of noma from primarily in Europe and India in the 1800’s [ 4 , 10 , 12 , 19 – 32 ], to parts of Africa and North America in the 1900’s [ 11 , 15 , 17 , 22 , 33 – 77 ], to Africa, South America and Asia in the 2000’s [ 6 – 9 , 14 , 16 , 78 – 150 ] ( Fig 2 ). Noma cases were reported in Irish and British soldiers in India the 1880’s [ 26 , 28 ]; in Belsen and Auschwitz concentration camps during the Second World War [ 9 , 14 , 17 , 45 , 139 , 151 , 152 ] and in the general war-time population of the Netherlands following the famine in the winter of 1944/1945 [ 139 ]. Since the Second World War, as living conditions improved, the occurrence of noma in Europe dramatically decreased and is only sporadically reported in the region today [ 80 , 81 , 83 , 129 ].…”