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Raising awareness of Melioidosis
Melioidosis.info is an online-platform for reporting melioidosis cases and for disseminating information of melioidosis
for general public, researchers and health policy makers.
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Links that you don't want to miss
Posters showing how to [1] look for B. pseudomallei colonies on agar plates, [2] identify B. pseudomallei and [3] perform drug susceptibility tests. Please click on pictures to get PDFs.
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To read "melioidosis" at Nature Review Disease Primers 2018. Here is the link to a read-only version for those without a subscription. |
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What is Melioidosis?
"Melioidosis" is an often fatal infectious disease caused by the environmental bacterium, Burkholderia pseudomallei. Melioidosis is often misdiagnosed because it causes wide range of symptoms which often mimic those of other tropical diseases. Diagnosis requires high suspicion/recognition by treating physicians and confirmation by isolation of B. pseudomallei from any clinical specimen such as blood, urine, sputum and pus. However, isolation and identification of B. pseudomallei require specific microbiology facilities and experienced microbiologists. The mortality rate of untreated patients could be up to 90%, and many die before the diagnosis is made. Thus, the burden of this disease is largely hidden
"Burkholderia pseudomallei" is present in soil and water in the endemic areas, and infection is acquired through skin inoculation or contamination of wounds, ingestion and inhalation.
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2021 Multistate outbreak of melioidosis in the US
In March-July 2021, CDC confirmed four linked cases (including two deaths) of melioidosis in patients from Georgia, Kansas, Minnesota, and Texas ( Ref)
As part of the public health investigation into these illnesses, CDC tested blood samples from the patients, as well as soil, water, and consumer products from in and around their homes. In October 2021, CDC identified B. pseudomallei, which causes melioidosis, in an aromatherapy spray that was found in the home of the Georgia patient.
Recommendations are provided ( Ref); including "Healthcare providers should watch for any acute bacterial infection that doesn’t respond to normal antibiotics and consider melioidosis, especially if the patient was exposed to the implicated spray during the previous 21 days. They should not rule out melioidosis just because a patient has not traveled outside the United States."
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A call to action
Time to recognize melioidosis as a neglected tropical disease
"We urge member states to request that WHO revisit their NTD list and appeal to government and philanthropic organisations to establish programmes in endemic countries to control melioidosis in order to reduce its global health burden ( Ref)."
The global burden of melioidosis (4·64 million disability-adjusted life-years [DALYs]) is higher than that of many NTDs, such as intestinal nematode infections (4·56 million DALYs), leptospirosis (2·90 million DALYs), dengue (2·86 million DALYs), and schistosomiasis (2·63 million DALYs; figure) ( Ref).
Our highlights
1) Our map can show evidence of melioidosis at each location. You can also click the link to go to Pubmed page to read more about the evidence!
2) Published manuscript alone is not enough. Our map also show non-published data of melioidosis cases and their mortalites from collaborating institutes. You can also click the link to see the details and how it was reported.
3) Our map can also show where you can seek helps for melioidosis research, and whom to contact.
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