![]() Wounds represent a large burden of disease in Sierra Leone. This study focused on chronic wound aetiology, the management of which has been identified as a global priority. Further research into the barriers and solutions to surgical care in such settings is therefore imperative. Sierra Leone is a sobering example with <10% of its surgical need currently being met, and non-specialists performing the majority of operations. In 2015, 5 billion people worldwide lacked access to surgical care, with a deficit of 143 million operations annually, and 25% of surgery recipients facing catastrophic financial consequences. Lack of access to surgical care is a public health crisis in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), as highlighted by The Lancet Commission on Global Surgery. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Ĭompeting interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the UK Department of Health and Social Care. 16/137/44, NIHR Global Health Research Group on Surgical Technologies, DGJ, JS, and JMB. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.ĭata Availability: All relevant data are within the manuscript and its Supporting Information files.įunding: This research was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), using UK aid from the UK Government to support global health research. Received: ApAccepted: SeptemPublished: October 13, 2021Ĭopyright: © 2021 Please et al. Converse, Johns Hopkins University, UNITED STATES PLoS Negl Trop Dis 15(10):Įditor: Paul J. (2021) Chronic wounds in Sierra Leone: Searching for Buruli ulcer, a NTD caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans, at Masanga Hospital. ![]() Our conclusions cannot necessarily be generalised to other regions of Sierra Leone, therefore further studies in other geographical districts are required.Ĭitation: Please HR, Vas Nunes JH, Patel R, Pluschke G, Tholley M, Ruf M-T, et al. These results suggest that BU is not a major cause of chronic wounds in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. However, the gold-standard molecular tests recommended by World Health Organisation (WHO) revealed no cases of BU. Significant bacterial loads were demonstrated in the samples. Tissue samples were acquired from the wounds and transported to a European tropical health laboratory for analysis. This study identified twenty-one patients with wounds suspected to be caused by BU who presented to Masanga Hospital (Tonkonili District, Sierra Leone) between February and March 2019. There is a lack of testing facilities in regions surrounding endemic countries which makes prevalence difficult to determine, with a particular paucity of data from Sierra Leone (SL). BU is a neglected tropical disease caused by infection with Mycobacterium ulcerans, and remains severely under-researched. This study improves our understanding of wound aetiology through tissue analysis of chronic leg wounds suspected to be caused by Buruli ulcer (BU). Chronic wounds constitute a significant surgical burden to low- and middle-income countries however, their aetiology often remains poorly understood. ![]()
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