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Public Library of Science, PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 5(8), p. e2904, 2014

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0002904

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Late Onset of the Serological Response against the 18 kDa Small Heat Shock Protein of Mycobacterium ulcerans in Children

Journal article published in 2014 by Katharina Röltgen ORCID, Martin W. Bratschi, Amanda Ross, Samuel Y. Aboagye, Kobina A. Ampah, Miriam Bolz, Arianna Andreoli, James Pritchard, Jacques C. Minyem, Djeunga Noumen, Eric Koka, Alphonse Um Boock, Alphonse Um Boock, Dorothy Yeboah-Manu, Gerd Pluschke
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

A previous survey for clinical cases of Buruli ulcer (BU) in the Mapé Basin of Cameroon suggested that, compared to older age groups, very young children may be less exposed to Mycobacterium ulcerans. Here we determined serum IgG titres against the 18 kDa small heat shock protein (shsp) of M. ulcerans in 875 individuals living in the BU endemic river basins of the Mapé in Cameroon and the Densu in Ghana. While none of the sera collected from children below the age of four contained significant amounts of 18 kDa shsp specific antibodies, the majority of sera had high IgG titres against the Plasmodium falciparum merozoite surface protein 1 (MSP-1). These data suggest that exposure to M. ulcerans increases at an age which coincides with the children moving further away from their homes and having more intense environmental contact, including exposure to water bodies at the periphery of their villages.