Media Analysis of Victorian Outbreak PDF

Running head: MEDIA ANALYSIS OF VICTORIAN OUTBREAK OF BURULI ULCER
MEDIA ANALYSIS OF VICTORIAN OUTBREAK OF BURULI ULCER
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MEDIA ANALYSIS OF VICTORIAN OUTBREAK OF BURULI ULCER1
Victoria’s outbreak of flesh-eating ulcers has been a major issue that has been hitting
the headlines from the early months of 2018 with accusations directed towards the
government due to its incapability to control the epidemic. The outbreak of the Buruli ulcer
from Victoria to even parts of Melbourne has been a major issue that the present ruling
government has to deal with. Claims about the government’s indifference to address the
epidemic has already raised eyebrows of the common people. The increasing number of
infected people and lack of proper treatment which has even lead to several amputations has
already put the government in a tight spot. In this discussion, the prime focus is on the
analysis of a news article published recently which directly accuses the government of not
adhering to the seriousness of the issue by remaining indifferent.
The media article which is to be analysed has appeared in one of the leading
newspapers of Australia, The Sydney Morning Herald. This makes the article all the more
important as it reaches out to a huge reader base of the Sydney Morning Herald. The
newspaper presents the article in such a form that comments, both for or against the issue are
presented to the reader but according to the structure of the article it can be clearly seen that
the newspaper takes a definite side and corners the government with its inability to cope with
the situation. It indirectly tries to convince the readers that more could have been done on the
part of the government as measures to control the epidemic although factual data from the
government websites present a different view altogether.
The author of the article, Liam Mannix is an established journalist who uses
references from an article published in the Medical Journal of Australia by Associate
Professor, Daniel O’Brien. Professor O’Brien is the Deputy Director of the Department of
Infectious Diseases, Royal Melbourne Hospital and the Faculty of Medicine, University of
Melbourne. An expert in his field of work, Professor O’Brien makes strong claims against the
government highlighting their indifference in the current situation and how efficiently his

MEDIA ANALYSIS OF VICTORIAN OUTBREAK OF BURULI ULCER2
team is working with limited resources. However, it is an accepted fact that with limited
resources, they will soon exhaust themselves and the explosive epidemic can go out of
control (O'Brien et al. 2018). Claims from such a leading doctor brings more gravity to the
issue the article is trying to address and hence makes the author’s claims more concrete and
real.
The article discusses how fast the epidemic is spreading with a rise of over 400% in
the last four years (Mannix 2018). The media tries to convince the readers of the seriousness
of the issue by highlighting the fact that how an efficient doctor like Professor O’Brien is
panicked under the current situation, with the increasing case numbers every day. The
seriousness of the case comes as the symptoms of the disease comes unidentified and it
confuses the general physicians into wrong treatment. The article focuses on the issue that
this comes due to the lack of proper research and study of the ulcer. It is quite natural for a
doctor to be anxious of the issues that is affecting the people, but the author uses this as an
issue to suppress the government measures and corner the government.
The discussion further focuses on how the epidemic spread. The bacterium,
Mycobacterium ulcerans, which causes the ulcer is spreading like wildfire on the Mornington
Peninsula. The tissue which was previously confined to West African countries, namely,
Cameroon and Ghana, has found a new home in Australia. However, the author notes that the
disease is not new to Australia. It was first diagnosed in 1930 in Victoria, but was never
considered a major threat in the healthcare sector of the Australian people
(Www2.health.vic.gov.au 2018). But he informs the reader of the seriousness of the issue as
the ulcer had a sudden escalation since 2012. The unknown cause behind this sudden
escalation and the severity of the disease which if not identified early causes immense pain
and requires surgical modification.