BAIRNSDALE ULCERS SPREADING ACROSS AUSTRALIA
The bacteria destroys skin cells, small blood vessels and even fat under the skin which causes the nasty ulcer and loss of skin.
The ulcer gets larger over time which is why early diagnosis is critical to minimise skin loss.
James Cook University professor John McBride said he was concerned about the spread of the disease.
'You might take the view that the first case was an anomaly, but the second and third cases make you think it is spreading,' he said.
An article published in the Medical Journal of Australia (MJA) in 2018 said the tissue-destroying infection which has spread in Australia by more than 400 per cent since 2010.
15 comments
Have never heard of Bairnsdale ulcers until now.
However lived in tropical North Queensland for a time during my childhood and did have a sibling who had a tropical ulcer on her shin, awful looking thing and grew to the size of a 50 cent piece approximately. She still has the scar today and it required professional treatment to cure it - a rarity of my childhood at least, with most home made remedies or Vick's Vapor Rub sort of curing most illnesses, cuts etc.
Think it started as a cut infected by the soil in the region. No idea what would cause Bairnsdale ulcers.