What's in a name? Ulcerans disease: infections due to Mycobacterium ulcerans

Abstract

Lesions due to Mycobacterium ulcerans infection may have more synonyms and eponyms than any other disease. New diseases are named for the person who discovered them, from the place from which they were first described or some major clinical feature. 'Buruli ulcer', the name by which the disease is most frequently known, is none of these. Classically, the disease presents as extensive, undermined ulcers, first described by Searls from Bairnsdale in southeastern Australia, names that gave the disease its two eponyms. A case is made for the term 'Buruli ulcer' to be dropped from the medical literature and the disease to be known as 'ulcerans disease' or simply 'ulcerans'.