Examining global efforts against Buruli ulcer

Feb 27 2013

"During my visit to the Médecins Sans Frontières [MSF] Buruli ulcer ward in Cameroon it was wonderful to see the amazing care that the patients receive on a daily basis: antibiotics, state of the art dressings, physiotherapy to help prevent deformities, free food and medicines, and surgery when required," Daniel O'Brien, a specialist adviser with MSF-UK focusing on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and Buruli ulcer, writes in the BMJ Group Blogs. "However I was confronted by the same feeling that I have when treating young children with HIV where, yes they do well on treatment, but if their mothers had received adequate antenatal care, they would not have HIV in the first place," he continues. He writes that "if we can manage to detect, diagnose, and treat the infection early then the outcomes would be greatly improved," but he states "[t]here are many challenges to making this a reality." He notes some of these challenges and concludes, "The goals are clear, the path challenging, but the potential is inspiring and the outcome possible. Now let's put our heads, resources, and commitment together and make it happen" (2/25).