Daten zum Projekt
Initiative: | Wissen für morgen – Kooperative Forschungsvorhaben im subsaharischen Afrika (beendet) |
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Ausschreibung: | Tropical Medicine 2004 |
Bewilligung: | 11.07.2005 |
Laufzeit: | 1 Jahr |
Projektinformationen
Buruli ulcer, caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans, is a devastating mycobacterial disease, mainly of children under the age of 15 years with the main focus in West Africa. Treatment options for Buruli ulcer available today are unsatisfactory with wide surgical excision and skin grafting as the standard treatment over the past decades. Recurrence rates of surgical treatment are unacceptably high. Antibiotics have been repeatedly evaluated with widely varying results. Recently Rifampicin/Streptomycin are again on trial focusing on their efficacy as primary and as adjunctive treatment combined with surgery. Since M. ulcerans is thermosensitive, prolonged heat application represents an attractive treatment option to destroy the majority of the bacteria. Heat application devices experimentally employed in the 70ies yielded very promising results, but were completely impractical in the field. Phase change materials (PCM) offer the unique perspective to put heat treatment into practice through their thermal energy storing capacity. In this pilot study, a randomized controlled trial of heat treatment (PCM - bandage) vs antibiotic treatment (8 weeks Streptomycin/ Rifampicin [= 8w Sm/Rif]) in patients with M. ulcerans ulcers in Ghana and Cameroon will be performed to test the efficacy of the new heat treatment device.
Projektbeteiligte
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PD Dr. Thomas Junghanss
Universität Heidelberg
Universitätsklinikum
Abteilung für Tropenhygiene und Öffentliches
Gesundheitswesen
Sektion Klinische Tropenmedizin
Heidelberg
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Dr. Ernestina Mensah-Quainoo
District Health Directorate
Buruli Ulcer Unit
Amasaman
Ghana
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Dr. Alphonse Um Boock
FAIRMED
Bureau Regional pour l'Afrique
Yaoundé
Kamerun (Cameroun)
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Prof. Dr. Gerd Pluschke
Swiss Tropical and Public Health
Institute TPH
Molecular Immunology Unit
Basel
Schweiz
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Dr. Helmut Weinläder
Bayerisches Zentrum für Angewandte
Energieforschung e.V.
Abteilung Würzburg
Abteilung Wärmedämmung und Wärmetransport
AG Solare und Optische Systeme
Würzburg
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Dr. Dorothy Yeboah-Manu
University of Ghana
Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research
Legon
Ghana