impact of costs that can be incurred, which include vaccination, education, implementation and campaigns on media coverage, are also investigated using optimal control theory applied via the Pontryagin's maximum principle. A simplified version of the model with pulse vaccination shows that the media can have an adverse effect if the vaccine is imperfect and the vaccinated mix over-confidently with the infectives. Numerical simulations are carried out to support the analytical results. We note, however, that our caricature model is not complete; a more comprehensive study will require interdisciplinary research across traditional boundaries of social, natural, medical sciences and mathematics [2] . Nevertheless, our work provides some insights into the effects of media reporting on the transmission dynamics of infectious diseases for which a vaccine exists. The present study is in no way exhaustive and can be extended in various ways: for example, to investigate the case in which there is media coverage but people ignore it (in which case the vaccination rate is unchanged despite the control). Thus, the effects of media on an outbreak of influenza with a partially effective vaccine may be complicated. While the media may encourage more people to get vaccinated, they may also trigger a vaccinating panic or promote overconfidence in the ability of a vaccine to fully protect against the disease. This may have potentially disastrous consequences in the face of a new pandemic.  Detection of Mycobacterium ulcerans by the Loop Mediated Isothermal Amplification Method BACKGROUND: Buruli ulcer (BU) caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans (M. ulcerans) has emerged as an important public health problem in several rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa. Early diagnosis and prompt treatment are important in preventing disfiguring complications associated with late stages of the disease progression. Presently there is no simple and rapid test that is appropriate for early diagnosis and use in the low-resource settings where M. ulcerans is most prevalent. METHODOLOGY: We compared conventional and pocket warmer loop mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) methods (using a heat block and a pocket warmer respectively as heat source for amplification reaction) for the detection of M. ulcerans in clinical specimens. The effect of purified and crude DNA preparations on the detection rate of the LAMP assays were also investigated and compared with that of IS2404 PCR, a reference assay for the detection of M. ulcerans. Thirty clinical specimens from suspected BU cases were examined by LAMP and IS2404 PCR. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The lower detection limit of both LAMP methods at 60°C was 300 copies of IS2404 and 30 copies of IS2404 for the conventional LAMP at 65°C. When purified DNA extracts were used, both the conventional LAMP and IS2404 PCR concordantly detected 21 positive cases, while the pocket warmer LAMP detected 19 cases. Nine of 30 samples were positive by both the LAMP assays as well as IS2404 PCR when crude extracts of clinical specimens were used. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: The LAMP method can be used as a simple and rapid test for the detection of M. ulcerans in clinical specimens. However, obtaining purified DNA, as well as generating isothermal conditions, remains a major challenge for the use of the LAMP method under field conditions. With further improvement in DNA extraction and amplification conditions, the pwLAMP could be used as a point of care diagnostic test for BU Buruli ulcer (BU) caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans (M. ulcerans) is a necrotizing skin disease endemic mostly in rural wetland of tropical countries of Africa, America, Asia and Australia. The disease also occurs in non-tropical areas of Australia, China and Japan. Globally, BU has been reported in over 30 countries [1] [2] [3] . The burden of BU is however most severe in sub Saharan Africa where the true incidence of the disease is difficult to determine as a result of poor surveillance measures and case confirmation [2] . Available data however reveals an increase in BU incidence over the last several years in the west African countries of Ivory Coast, Ghana and Benin. In these countries BU has replaced leprosy as the second most prevalent mycobacterial disease [1] , [3] [4] [5] .