A flesh-eating ulcer transmitted by mosquitos is on the rise in Victoria.

Buruli ulcers, which were first recorded in East Gippsland in the 1930s, can lead to limb amputation if not property treated.

Buruli ulcer expert Paul Johnson told the Age the number of cases has spiked from 32 in 2010 to 106 in 2015.

It has also spread from coastal regions to as far inland as Melbourne's south-east suburbs.

"It's moved, for reasons we don't understand, and it's setting up shop in Melbourne," Professor Johnson said.

Jan Smith contracted the bacterial ulcer while she was preparing to climb Mount Denali in Alaska.

In May this year she was sent to hospital and put on an antibiotic drip after being misdiagnosed by a GP.

"My husband said 'I want to throw up because I see your bone'. It's a very devastating thing," she told the newspaper.

The ulcer continued to get worse until she was eventually given the correct does of antibiotics.