title: Experimental Survival of Mycobacterium ulcerans in Watery Soil, a Potential Source of Buruli Ulcer.
abstract: The reservoir of Mycobacterium ulcerans causing Buruli ulcer (BU) remains unknown. Here, sterilized watery soil was mixed with 2 × 10(6) colony-forming units (CFU)/g of M. ulcerans Agy99 or M. ulcerans ATCC 33728 and incubated in a microaerophilic atmosphere in the presence of negative controls. Both M. ulcerans strains survived in soil for 4 months with a final inoculum of 300-440 CFU/g. Further, three groups of five mice with and without footpad scarification were exposed to control soil or M. ulcerans-inoculated soil. Although no specific clinical and histopathological lesions were observed in control animals, red spots observed on 8/20 scarified feet in 8/10 challenged mice yielded inflammatory infiltrates and positive real-time polymerase chain reaction detection of M. ulcerans DNA in five mice. BU can be acquired as an inoculation infection with watery soil as a transient source of infection. These experimental observations warrant additional field observations.
authors.affiliation: Unité de Recherche sur les Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Émergentes (UMR/CNRS 7278/IRD 198/INSERM 1095), Faculté de Médecine, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Roger D B
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.affiliation: Unité de Recherche sur les Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Émergentes (UMR/CNRS 7278/IRD 198/INSERM 1095), Faculté de Médecine, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Hubert
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lepidi
authors.affiliation: Unité de Recherche sur les Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Émergentes (UMR/CNRS 7278/IRD 198/INSERM 1095), Faculté de Médecine, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Claude
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nappez
authors.affiliation: Unité de Recherche sur les Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Émergentes (UMR/CNRS 7278/IRD 198/INSERM 1095), Faculté de Médecine, Marseille, France michel.drancourt@univ-amu.fr.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Drancourt
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D054312:Buruli Ulcer / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D019911:Mycobacterium ulcerans / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*; D012988:Soil Microbiology; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D012987:Soil; D014867:Water