Response to treatment in a prospective cohort of patients with large ulcerated lesions suspected to be Buruli Ulcer (Mycobacterium ulcerans disease).

Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) advises treatment of Mycobacterium ulcerans disease, also called "Buruli ulcer" (BU), with a combination of the antibiotics rifampicin and streptomycin (R+S), whether followed by surgery or not. In endemic areas, a clinical case definition is recommended. We evaluated the effectiveness of this strategy in a series of patients with large ulcers of > or =10 cm in longest diameter in a rural health zone of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

[Buruli ulcer in Angolese refugees in the Kimpese area, Lower Congo, D.R. Congo].

Many epidemiological studies on Buruli ulcer have established the endemic zones in the Congolese Democratic Republic. But the situation about the areas where the refugees are located in high endemicity zones has not yet been studied. The present study describes the presence of the Mycobacterium ulcerans infection in the angolese refugee populationat Kimpese.