Local research explores new way to reduce Buruli ulcer

Key points

• The Western Public Health Unit helped with a new study. The study found that special mozzie traps can cut the risk of Buruli ulcer by more than 80%.
• Buruli ulcer is a skin infection. It can cause sores that do not heal.
• Possums can have the germ that causes Buruli ulcer. Mozzies can pick up the germ from possums. A mozzie can then pass the germ to a person when it bites them.
• Buruli ulcer has been found in 14 suburbs in Melbourne’s north and west.
• See your GP if you have a skin sore that does not heal. Ask your GP about a Buruli ulcer test.
• Protect yourself from mozzie bites. Use insect repellent and fly screens. Tip out water that collects around your home.
• The special mozzie traps may be available in the future.

Details of the study and collaboration

A Melbourne-led study conducted across Melbourne’s inner north-west has found that mosquito control in an urban setting can reduce the risk of Buruli ulcer infection by more than 80 percent, providing promising evidence for a new approach to protecting local communities from the disease.

Published in Nature Microbiology, the randomised controlled trial took place across Melbourne’s inner north-west, in Buruli ulcer hotspot areas of Brunswick West, Essendon and Moonee Ponds. Six areas had specialized, environmentally safe mosquito control traps installed, and a further six areas had no interventions as a comparison. The study found these traps significantly reduce mosquito numbers and Buruli ulcer infections in people.

WPHU researchers Dr Wendy Bamberg, Dr Michael Birrell and Dr Finn Romanes were co-authors of the study, contributing local public health expertise to the research alongside researchers from the University of Melbourne, Doherty Institute, and the Victorian Department of Health.

Buruli ulcer is a serious infection caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans, a bacterium that can destroy skin and soft tissue if not treated early. The research is of particular local significance as Buruli ulcer is becoming more common in Victoria and is spreading to new areas, including Melbourne’s north-west and western suburbs. There are now 14 suburbs in the Western Public Health Unit (WPHU) catchment where there is a risk of Buruli ulcer, including Brunswick, Coburg, Essendon, Moonee Ponds and newly, Parkville and Williamstown.

WPHU Director, Dr Finn Romanes said the findings provide an important opportunity to better understand how mosquito control could be used alongside existing measures to protect communities from Buruli ulcer.

“More suburbs are emerging as areas of risk, and local control of mosquitoes through traps is now an important area of focus for public health action”, he said.

Local Brunswick resident Sarah Fowler, who was diagnosed with Buruli ulcer in late 2025, shared her experience of the disease with The Age, highlighting the importance of prevention.

“It’s great these traps work because it is one of those things where prevention is so important,” she said.

Dr Finn Romanes said people can also take simple steps to reduce their risk of Buruli ulcer.

“People can reduce their risk of Buruli ulcer by taking steps to avoid mosquito bites, including using insect repellent, using fly screens and removing standing water around their homes where mosquitoes can breed.”

Buruli ulcer can take up to 4-5 months to develop, so now is an important time to look out for signs of infection following summer mozzie bites in risk areas. If you notice a sore that is slow to heal, an unusual skin lesion, swelling or a wound that is not improving, see your GP and ask for a Buruli ulcer test.

Read the full research: Autodissemination stations suppress Aedes notoscriptus mosquitoes and reduce Buruli ulcer risk in urban Australia: a randomized controlled field trial

Read the article in The Age: How backyard mozzie traps curbed the spread of a flesh-eating disease in Melbourne suburbia

Learn more about Buruli ulcer: Click here

Last updated: 10 September 2026