A STUDY TO DETERMINE THE CURRENT PREVALENCE OF BURULI ULCER IN THE ADULT POPULATION AND DETERMINE ANY GENDER ISSUES OUT OF THE BURDEN OF BURULI ULCER IN GA DISTRICT OF GREATER ACCRA REGION

ABSTRACT

In this study a total of 3761 indiv iduals in six v illages were interv iewed out of which 497 clinical lesions at various stages of the diseases were identified given a crude prevalence rate of 13.2 percent or 13,215 per 100,000 compared to the National case search rate of 87.7 per 100,000 for the w hole Ga district w ith the set back mentioned in the text. The definition o f adult has intentionally been chosen to start from age 15 years to enable us have a meaningful discussion of any gender issues that may arise from the disease since women of reproductive age is 15-49 years by W HO convention. Consequently the adult population formed 60.2% of the total population surveyed. From the 2,263 adult population 357 patients were identified with clinical lesions at various stages giving a crude prevalence rate of 15.8 per cent or 15,775 per 100,000. This prevalence gives the erroneous impression that the disease is more prevalent in the adult than in children but this could be explained by the fact that those with the scar formed the majority who obviously might have reached adult age since it takes a long time before the disease reach the scaring stage. However, the active lesions (pre-ulcerative and ulcer cases) showed majority o f them being 15 years and below which is widely known by the numerous publications worldwide.