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Buruli ulcer disease: prospects for a vaccine

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Abstract

Buruli ulcer disease (BUD), caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans, is a neglected bacterial infection of the poor in remote rural areas, mostly affecting children. BUD is a mutilating disease leading to severe disability; it is the third most common mycobacterial infection in immunocompetent people after tuberculosis and leprosy. It is most endemic in West Africa, but cases have been reported from more than 30 countries. Treatment with antibiotics is possible, long-lasting and requires injections; there are cases of treatment failures, and the disease is prone to resistance. A vaccine against M. ulcerans would protect persons at risk in highly endemic areas, and could be used as a therapeutic vaccine to shorten the duration of treatment and prevent relapses. There is considerable evidence supporting the notion that generation of a vaccine is feasible. This article reviews the present state of the art with special emphasis on the immunology of the infection and the prospects for development of a vaccine.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Scientific Institute of Public Health, Rue Engelandstraat 642, 1180, Brussels, Belgium

    Kris Huygen

  2. Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research, Kumasi, Ghana

    Ohene Adjei

  3. Laboratoire de Référence des Mycobactéries, Cotonou, Benin

    Dissou Affolabi

  4. Department of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany

    Gisela Bretzel

  5. Institut Pasteur, Paris, France

    Caroline Demangel

  6. Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany

    Bernhard Fleischer

  7. Programme National de Lutte contre l’Ulcère de Buruli, Cotonou, Benin

    Roch Christian Johnson

  8. Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Health Sciences, University de Minho, Braga, Portugal

    Jorge Pedrosa

  9. Institut Medical Evangelique, Kimpese, DR Congo

    Delphin M. Phanzu

  10. Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana

    Richard O. Phillips

  11. Swiss Tropical Institute, Basel, Switzerland

    Gerd Pluschke

  12. European Research and Project Office GmbH, Saarbrücken, Germany

    Vera Siegmund

  13. LIONEX Diagnostics and Therapeutics GmbH, Brunswick, Germany

    Mahavir Singh

  14. University of Groningen Medical Centre, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Tjip S. van der Werf

  15. St George’s University, London, UK

    Mark Wansbrough-Jones

  16. Prince Leopold Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium

    Françoise Portaels

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Huygen, K., Adjei, O., Affolabi, D. et al. Buruli ulcer disease: prospects for a vaccine. Med Microbiol Immunol 198, 69–77 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00430-009-0109-6

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