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ABSTRACT Mycobacterium ulceranspseudoshottsiiis a mycolactone‐producing bacterium previously isolated from Striped Bass (Morone saxatilis(Walbaum)) from Chesapeake Bay and adjacent waters of the Atlantic Coast of North America. We report the first molecular detection of this pathogen in the native Gulf strain ofMorone saxatiliscollected from the Pearl River, Mississippi (USA). Molecular identification was conducted using a novel PCR assay targeting the parA‐625 intergenic spacer of the virulence‐associated pMUM plasmid. The isolate was unambiguously assigned toM. u. pseudoshottsiibased on diagnostic single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and phylogenetic analysis. This report expands the known range ofM. u. pseudoshottsiito include Gulf Coast watersheds and highlights the need for enhanced surveillance in wild and aquacultured fish populations of the southern United States. 

ABSTRACT Understanding the interactions of ecosystems, humans and pathogens is important for disease risk estimation. This is particularly true for neglected and newly emerging diseases where modes and efficiencies of transmission leading to epidemics are not well understood. Using a model for other emerging diseases, the neglected tropical skin disease Buruli ulcer (BU), we systematically review the literature on transmission of the etiologic agent, Mycobacterium ulcerans (MU), within a One Health/EcoHealth framework and against Hill's nine criteria and Koch's postulates for making strong inference in disease systems. Using this strong inference approach, we advocate a null hypothesis for MU transmission and other understudied disease systems. The null should be tested against alternative vector or host roles in pathogen transmission to better inform disease management. We propose a re-evaluation of what is necessary to identify and confirm hosts, reservoirs and vectors associated with environmental pathogen replication, dispersal and transmission; critically review alternative environmental sources of MU that may be important for transmission, including invertebrate and vertebrate species, plants and biofilms on aquatic substrates; and conclude with placing BU within the context of other neglected and emerging infectious diseases with intricate ecological relationships that lead to disease in humans, wildlife and domestic animals.