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Possums would be vaccinated against the Buruli ulcer under a plan by infectious disease experts to control what they say is an astounding surge of flesh-eating disease across Melbourne and regional Victoria.<\/p>\n
As the state heads into the riskiest months for transmission, public-health officials are urging those living or travelling to affected areas \u2013 including Melbourne\u2019s inner-north \u2013 to take steps to avoid mosquito bites.<\/p>\n
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Alice Mika is still battling a Buruli ulcer infection from last summer.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Jason South<\/cite><\/p>\n Scientists believe the insects are fuelling the spread by biting infected possums and then humans. The skin infection is caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium ulcerans<\/em>. If it gets under the skin, it can grow and produce a toxin that melts skin cells and fat.<\/p>\n A record 378 cases of the Buruli ulcer have been reported in Victoria in the past 12 months. More than 40 cases have been detected in Merri-bek \u2013 formerly known as Moreland \u2013 where annual infections are on track to double in a year. In the Moonee Valley area, 23 cases have been recorded over the year.<\/p>\n Barwon Health director of infectious diseases Associate Professor Daniel O\u2019Brien said a new approach was needed to slow the spread of the infection, which could lead to skin and tissue loss.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a serious disease that\u2019s out of control,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need to prevent people from catching it in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n Oral bait tuberculosis vaccines would be put out for possums to consume under a proposal by O\u2019Brien and his co-authors published in the Medical Journal of Australia<\/i>.<\/p>\n This vaccine has been found to offer protection against the Buruli ulcer because tuberculosis is from the same bacterial family.<\/p>\n Oral bait vaccines have been used to stop the spread of rabies in wildlife in Europe and North America. In New Zealand, possums have been vaccinated against bovine tuberculosis by eating chocolate-flavoured pellets.<\/p>\n \u201cPossums carry the disease and their faecal droppings are infectious,\u201d said O\u2019Brien, who is trying to secure philanthropic funding for a trial.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you could prevent them getting sick, then you might be able to interrupt the chain of transmissions and perhaps eradicate it completely.\u201d<\/p>\n Because of the long incubation period, it typically takes six months between being infected with the bacterium and a diagnosis. This means people get infected in summer and autumn when mosquitoes are active, prompting a spike of detections in winter and spring.<\/p>\n However, many patients and local doctors are still unaware that the Buruli ulcer has spread beyond historical hotspots near the coast.<\/p>\n Point Lonsdale on the Bellarine Peninsula was an epicentre 20 years ago. The Buruli ulcer has since jumped across Port Phillip Bay to the Mornington Peninsula, and established itself in suburbs across Melbourne and Geelong.<\/p>\n \u201cNow it seems to be able to actually get away from the coast and get into the inner city, there\u2019s not really a limit to it,\u201d said Professor Paul Johnson, an infectious diseases physician with Austin Health.<\/p>\n Alice Mika didn\u2019t think much of the small bump that appeared on her right ankle in June.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought it might\u2019ve been an infected spider bite,\u201d the 26-year-old Airport West resident said.<\/p>\n Over the next two months, Mika saw three different GPs who suspected she had a staph or insect bite infection and prescribed antibiotics \u2013 but they didn\u2019t seem to help.<\/p>\n Source: Western Public Health Unit<\/p>\n The bump grew into a dollar-sized ulcer, her ankle doubled in size, reddened and she struggled to walk.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t until Mika mentioned her plight to a colleague at Sunshine Hospital that she got some answers.<\/p>\n \u201cMy colleague said, \u2018I\u2019ve heard of this Buruli thing and what you are describing sounds like it might be that\u2019,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n A test confirmed it and she began an eight-week course of new antibiotics and had surgery to drain her wound.<\/p>\n Mika suspects she contracted the ulcer after being bitten by a mosquito over summer.<\/p>\n \u201cIt will probably take six to 12 months before it\u2019s healed,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n New data shows Brunswick West, Pascoe Vale South, Essendon, Moonee Ponds, Strathmore and Coburg have emerged as suburbs of concern in Melbourne.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s quite astounding, or substantial, the degree of increases that we are seeing,\u201d said Western Public Health Unit director Dr Finn Romanes.<\/p>\n He said those living near affected areas should also be vigilant, noting there could be quite significant local transmission within a suburb before Buruli ulcer was declared endemic in the area.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very clearly affecting all age groups, all genders, and people of absolutely every background.\u201d<\/p>\n A Department of Health spokeswoman said officials looked forward to seeing further research into the vaccination of possums.<\/p>\n She said this would \u201cidentify whether this program could inform public health actions in the future\u201d.<\/p>\nHow to prevent the Buruli ulcer<\/h3>\n
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