our projects: cote d'ivoire

Buruli ulcer is on the rise in Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast)

Especially among children. This horrific disease starts out like an innocent bug bite. Within weeks, a gruesome sore widens.

This disease is fairly new to health workers. Few parents or doctors know about Buruli. By the time it is diagnosed, some children need amputations to save their lives.

The disease seems most common in poor, remote villages. Most who get the disease cannot afford care. Medicines and surgical supplies and surgical experience to treat Buruli are in short supply.

ALM’s focus is in Taabo. Most patients admitted to this center represent serious or complicated cases. Their care and support are too demanding for the technical level of other centers. Most of these children will require very long hospital stays.

Buruli ulcer disease is assuming public health importance in many countries, prompting the establishment of a Global Buruli Ulcer Initiative by the World health Organization (WHO) in 1998. The organism that causes BU—Mycobacterium ulcerans—belongs to the same class of bacteria that causes TB and leprosy.

Mycobacterium ulcerans infection was first described in Australia in 1948 and later named Buruli ulcer, after a county in Uganda. Since then, cases have been reported throughout the tropical and subtropical world. In Africa, WHO estimates that at least 16 of its 46 member countries have reported cases of BU. It is endemic in Western Africa and parts of Eastern and Central Africa.

One characteristic of the disease Buruli Ulcer (BU) is its apparent association with bodies of water worldwide. The recent identification of M. ulcerans in certain water insects called Cyclops has raised the possibility of mechanical transmission of the infection. Buruli ulcer commonly affects Children. According to WHO, 70% of the infected are less than 15 years of age! BU characteristically affects the extremities (legs, arms), rather than the trunk.

summary

This disease that causes so much pain and suffering to children in West Africa is the third most common mycobacterial disease in humans after tuberculosis and leprosy.

ALM works closely with its project partner MAP, International (Medical Assistance Program) to provide care for Buruli-affected people.

MAP works in conjunction with the Cote d’Ivoire ministry of health and several partner agencies including American Leprosy Missions on a program to train community health workers in the early detection and treatment of Buruli ulcer in West Africa.

project description

Although Buruli ulcer has been identified and tracked throughout the twentieth century, a dramatic increase has been noted just in the past two decades. Many experts believe that this is the result of the environmental degradation of wetlands, deforestation, and changes in agricultural practices. The actual method of transmission remains unknown, but its existence threatens both the physical and social wellbeing of people in twenty-seven countries, with predominance in West Africa. Women, as well as children between ages two and 15, are disproportionately affected.

The bacterium that causes the Buruli ulcer deforms its victims leaving them crippled physically, emotionally, and economically.

Complicated cases involve surgical treatment and can require a hospital stay of a year or more, further depriving victims of their livelihood and placing an additional burden on an inadequate health care system.

budget

American Leprosy Missions received a $750,000 grant for the treatment of the Buruli ulcer disease from Irish Aid.

The three-year grant of $250,000 annually is the result of ALM’s partnerships with The Leprosy Mission Ireland and MAP International, Brunswick, GA.

“ALM is already curing leprosy and Buruli ulcer in Africa, but we need to do more,” said ALM president Christopher J. Doyle. “This grant is going to strengthen our efforts to detect and treat cases of Buruli ulcer, especially in Ivory Coast. We need to reach them and treat the people early, before the ulcers become too large to treat.”

In addition to treatment, the grant will provide funds for training and case detection as well as building a stronger healthcare infrastructure. ALM has been working in Ivory Coast since 2001 and also treats Buruli ulcer disease in Ghana and DR Congo.

ALM is currently exploring ways to assist victims of Buruli ulcer. The 2007 budget for Cote d’Ivoire is $106,400. Gifts to cure may be made online.

For more information about Buruli ulcer, visit www.who.int/buruli/partners/en/ or ALM’s project pages in Ghana and the DR Congo.