Molecular Detection of Buruli ulcer among Patients with Various Degrees of Skin Ulcerative Lesions Revealed Zero Prevalence in Parts of Jigawa State, Northern Nigeria

Abstract

The indolent, necrotizing Buruli ulcer disease is a chronic condition caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans, an environmental bacteria that can damage the skin, tissues, and bones. It is now recognized as one of the 20 Neglected Tropical Diseases targeted for elimination by the year 2030. Public health continues to face difficulties due to its mechanism of transmission that is yet to be completely unravel. From December 2019 to September 2023, a hospital-based study was conducted to ascertain the prevalence of Buruli ulcer in parts of Jigawa State, Nigeria. A purposive sampling technique was adopted in selecting and diagnosing 382 samples from patients with various degrees of skin ulcerative lesions across all age groups and gender. The diagnosis of all the samples initially involved the use of Ziehel Nelseen staining procedure. Thirty-five (35) samples with symptoms suspected to be Buruli ulcer were diagnosed using Real-time Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR) method. The results were negative for the 382 samples diagnosed using Ziehel Nelseen staining procedure as well as the 35 using real-Time PCR. This study concludes that despite testing samples with obvious ulcerative lesions suspected to be Buruli ulcer from patients, both Ziehel Nelseen staining procedure and Real-Time PCR revealed negative results. It is recommended that more samples suspected to have symptoms of Buruli ulcers should be diagnosed using Real-Time PCR and also make use of both IS2404 and IS2606.