Ulcerative skin lesions among children in Cameroon: It is not always Yaws.
Outbreaks of yaws-like ulcerative skin lesions in children are frequently reported in tropical and sub-tropical countries. The origin of these lesions might be primarily traumatic or infectious; in the latter case, Treponema pallidum subspecies pertenue, the yaws agent, and Haemophilus ducreyi, the...
Published in: | PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2021
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0009180 https://doaj.org/article/9f9cb2c988594a8da0085710e37f552a |
id |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:9f9cb2c988594a8da0085710e37f552a |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:9f9cb2c988594a8da0085710e37f552a 2023-05-15T15:16:25+02:00 Ulcerative skin lesions among children in Cameroon: It is not always Yaws. Jean-Philippe Ndzomo Ngono Serges Tchatchouang Mireille Victorine Noah Tsanga Earnest Njih Tabah Albert Tchualeu Kingsley Asiedu Lorenzo Giacani Sara Eyangoh Tania Crucitti 2021-02-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0009180 https://doaj.org/article/9f9cb2c988594a8da0085710e37f552a EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0009180 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0009180 https://doaj.org/article/9f9cb2c988594a8da0085710e37f552a PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 15, Iss 2, p e0009180 (2021) Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 article 2021 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0009180 2022-12-31T10:07:26Z Outbreaks of yaws-like ulcerative skin lesions in children are frequently reported in tropical and sub-tropical countries. The origin of these lesions might be primarily traumatic or infectious; in the latter case, Treponema pallidum subspecies pertenue, the yaws agent, and Haemophilus ducreyi, the agent of chancroid, are two of the pathogens commonly associated with the aetiology of skin ulcers. In this work, we investigated the presence of T. p. pertenue and H. ducreyi DNA in skin ulcers in children living in yaws-endemic regions in Cameroon. Skin lesion swabs were collected from children presenting with yaws-suspected skin lesions during three outbreaks, two of which occurred in 2017 and one in 2019. DNA extracted from the swabs was used to amplify three target genes: the human β2-microglobulin gene to confirm proper sample collection and DNA extraction, the polA gene, highly conserved among all subspecies of T. pallidum, and the hddA gene of H. ducreyi. A fourth target, the tprL gene was used to differentiate T. p. pertenue from the other agents of human treponematoses in polA-positive samples. A total of 112 samples were analysed in this study. One sample, negative for β2-microglobulin, was excluded from further analysis. T. p. pertenue was only detected in the samples collected during the first 2017 outbreak (12/74, 16.2%). In contrast, H. ducreyi DNA could be amplified from samples from all three outbreaks (outbreak 1: 27/74, 36.5%; outbreak 2: 17/24, 70.8%; outbreak 3: 11/13, 84.6%). Our results show that H. ducreyi was more frequently associated to skin lesions in the examined children than T. p. pertenue, but also that yaws is still present in Cameroon. These findings strongly advocate for a continuous effort to determine the aetiology of ulcerative skin lesions during these recurring outbreaks, and to inform the planned mass treatment campaigns to eliminate yaws in Cameroon. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases 15 2 e0009180 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
spellingShingle |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 Jean-Philippe Ndzomo Ngono Serges Tchatchouang Mireille Victorine Noah Tsanga Earnest Njih Tabah Albert Tchualeu Kingsley Asiedu Lorenzo Giacani Sara Eyangoh Tania Crucitti Ulcerative skin lesions among children in Cameroon: It is not always Yaws. |
topic_facet |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
description |
Outbreaks of yaws-like ulcerative skin lesions in children are frequently reported in tropical and sub-tropical countries. The origin of these lesions might be primarily traumatic or infectious; in the latter case, Treponema pallidum subspecies pertenue, the yaws agent, and Haemophilus ducreyi, the agent of chancroid, are two of the pathogens commonly associated with the aetiology of skin ulcers. In this work, we investigated the presence of T. p. pertenue and H. ducreyi DNA in skin ulcers in children living in yaws-endemic regions in Cameroon. Skin lesion swabs were collected from children presenting with yaws-suspected skin lesions during three outbreaks, two of which occurred in 2017 and one in 2019. DNA extracted from the swabs was used to amplify three target genes: the human β2-microglobulin gene to confirm proper sample collection and DNA extraction, the polA gene, highly conserved among all subspecies of T. pallidum, and the hddA gene of H. ducreyi. A fourth target, the tprL gene was used to differentiate T. p. pertenue from the other agents of human treponematoses in polA-positive samples. A total of 112 samples were analysed in this study. One sample, negative for β2-microglobulin, was excluded from further analysis. T. p. pertenue was only detected in the samples collected during the first 2017 outbreak (12/74, 16.2%). In contrast, H. ducreyi DNA could be amplified from samples from all three outbreaks (outbreak 1: 27/74, 36.5%; outbreak 2: 17/24, 70.8%; outbreak 3: 11/13, 84.6%). Our results show that H. ducreyi was more frequently associated to skin lesions in the examined children than T. p. pertenue, but also that yaws is still present in Cameroon. These findings strongly advocate for a continuous effort to determine the aetiology of ulcerative skin lesions during these recurring outbreaks, and to inform the planned mass treatment campaigns to eliminate yaws in Cameroon. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Jean-Philippe Ndzomo Ngono Serges Tchatchouang Mireille Victorine Noah Tsanga Earnest Njih Tabah Albert Tchualeu Kingsley Asiedu Lorenzo Giacani Sara Eyangoh Tania Crucitti |
author_facet |
Jean-Philippe Ndzomo Ngono Serges Tchatchouang Mireille Victorine Noah Tsanga Earnest Njih Tabah Albert Tchualeu Kingsley Asiedu Lorenzo Giacani Sara Eyangoh Tania Crucitti |
author_sort |
Jean-Philippe Ndzomo Ngono |
title |
Ulcerative skin lesions among children in Cameroon: It is not always Yaws. |
title_short |
Ulcerative skin lesions among children in Cameroon: It is not always Yaws. |
title_full |
Ulcerative skin lesions among children in Cameroon: It is not always Yaws. |
title_fullStr |
Ulcerative skin lesions among children in Cameroon: It is not always Yaws. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Ulcerative skin lesions among children in Cameroon: It is not always Yaws. |
title_sort |
ulcerative skin lesions among children in cameroon: it is not always yaws. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0009180 https://doaj.org/article/9f9cb2c988594a8da0085710e37f552a |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 15, Iss 2, p e0009180 (2021) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0009180 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0009180 https://doaj.org/article/9f9cb2c988594a8da0085710e37f552a |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0009180 |
container_title |
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases |
container_volume |
15 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
e0009180 |
_version_ |
1766346709241167872 |