Buruli ulcer in Australia: Evidence for a new endemic focus at Batemans Bay, New South Wales

by Mehrab E Hossain, Caitlin Keighley, Andrew H. Buultjens, Jessica L. Porter, Paul D. R. Johnson, Timothy P. Stinear, Maria Globan, Caroline J. Lavender, Jake A. Lacey, Norelle L. Sherry, Anton Forsyth, Mark Formby, Ian Marr

We describe two locally acquired cases of Mycobacterium ulcerans infection (Buruli ulcer) in the town of Batemans Bay on the east coast of New South Wales (NSW), Australia, 150 km north of Eden, the only other place in NSW where Buruli ulcer has likely been locally acquired. Genomic analysis showed that the bacterial isolates from the cases were identical but belonged to a phylogenetically distinct M. ulcerans clade that was most closely related to the isolate from the earlier case in Eden to the south. It is proposed that Batemans Bay is a new endemic focus of human Buruli ulcer transmission.