Emerg Infect Dis

Named for Buruli County (now Nakasongola District), Uganda, where large numbers of cases were reported in the 1960s, Buruli ulcer (from the Latin ulcus, “sore”) is a cutaneous infection with Mycobacterium ulcerans. This bacterium produces a unique toxin (mycolactone), which causes rapid and extensive skin ulceration that is relatively painless. Buruli ulcer was first described by Sir Albert Cook in 1897. However, in his book A Walk Across Africa, describing his participation in the 1860 expe- dition to find the source of the Nile River, Scottish explorer James Augustus Grant might have earlier described Buruli ulcer:

PMC7045817

Emerging Infectious Diseases