Nicholas Kristof Instagram – Any tropical disease experts out there? I met this man in northern Sierra Leone, and he told me he had had this unexplained open sore on his leg for more than six months. The doctors had no explanation (it wasn’t from trauma) and offered no treatment, and it wasn’t getting better.
I think it might be Buruli Ulcer, and I wrote the words down for him and told him to show the hospital (where his wife works as an assistant nurse). But of course I have no idea, and one senior doctor in Sierra Leone I asked wasn’t even sure that Buruli Ulcer existed in the country. Still, I saw dozens of similar cases of Buruli Ulcer at a hospital in the neighboring country of Liberia, where it was likewise thought that Buruli Ulcer was exceedingly rare — and then once the hospital offered treatment, large numbers of impoverished farmers turned out to be affected. Most of the patients, like this man, were farmers who lived near swamps and were exposed to the stagnant water.
This man was very stoical, because it must be excruciatingly painful. If it is Buruli Ulcer it can be treated with a cheap antibiotic like Rifampin. I can get a message to him and his wife through someone else in the city (Makeni) who has a phone and is on Whatsapp, so is you have suggestions, let me know. | Posted on 20/Jun/2023 02:34:47
