Background
Bairnsdale ulcer also called Buruli ulcer (BU) is a necrotizing skin infection caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans with unknown mode of transmission to humans. The disease has been in Australia since the 1930s and 1940s. The first case was from Bairnsdale in an area known as Gippsland in Victoria. Currently BU is on the ascendency in Victoria with case reports mainly from the Bellarine Peninsula (BP) and moving south-west. There is concern that with increasing new settlements on the peninsula more case shall be reported. We propose mapping out the spatial distribution of BU cases in time and space in the BP to elucidate possible risk factors and also track the direction of possible new foci for future environmental interventions.
Methodology
Basic explorative and descriptive analysis were run on patient data to understand patterns in BU cases against age, place of residence and seasons. We used geographic information system (GIS) data of Australia for the spatial mapping of BU cases in the BP.
Results and Discussion
Mean and median ages were 53.6 and 57.5years respectively (Fig 1). From the data obtained, cases came from 16 suburbs on the BP. Out of the 16 suburbs, Point Lonsdale (112 cases), Barwon Heads (63), Queenscliff (34), Ocean Grove (30 cases) and St. Leonards (19 cases) were the top five areas of highest cases (Fig. 2). The month that recorded highest cases was July (Fig. 3) with reasons unclear.
Future Works
The current project is working hard to acquire the entire BU patient’s data in Victoria to present a much big picture on the BP. We shall also perform sero-epidemiological study to access the level of exposure to Mycobacterium ulcerans in the area to elucidate the possible risk factors.