Melioidosis

Melioidosis, also called Whitmore’s disease, is an infectious disease that can infect humans or animals. The disease is caused by the bacteria Burkholderia pseudomallei or B. pseudomallei, which is found in contaminated soil and water. It is spread to humans and animals through direct contact with the contaminated source.

Melioidosis is predominately a disease of tropical climates, especially in Southeast Asia and northern Australia where it is widespread. However, B. psuedomallei was also found in the environment along the Gulf Coast of Mississippi in the United States in 2022. CDC And state partners are investigating to determine how widespread the bacteria is within the continental United States.

Reference : Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Burkholderia pseudomallei

Melioidosis was first recognised in Rangoon in 1911 by the British doctor Alfred Whitmore and his assistant C. S. Krishnaswami, although the name of the disease was coined by Thomas Stanton and William Fletcher. From the time when the aetiological organism was first identified, it has been renamed many times: Bacterium (or Bacillus) whitmori, Malleomyces pseudomallei, Loefflerella pseudomallei, Pfeifferella whitmori, Pseudomonas pseudomallei and, finally, it was officially named Burkholderia pseudomallei in 1992. CDC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Research Impact [by Mahidol] Melioidosis เชื้อล่องหน โรคซ่อนตัว.mp4

There are more than 2,500 culture-confirmed melioidosis in Thailand each year, and around 40% of them died. Therefore, it is estimated that more than 1,000 people died of culture-confirmed melioidosis each year. Incidence of melioidosis is increasing in Northeast Thailand. B. pseudomallei is now the second most common cause of community-acquired bacteremia in Northeast Thailand (19.3%), after E. coli (23.1%) and followed by S. aureus (8.2%).

Reference : www.melioidosis.info

Twenty-five countries with the highest predicted melioidosis incidence and predicted increase in prevalence of the major risk factor, diabetes mellitus.

Clinical manifestations of melioidosis. Examples of possible clinical presentations of melioidosis: an MRI of the brainstem and cervical spinal cord with inflammatory changes consistent with encephalomyelitis (arrow, part 1); a ring-enhancing lesion with surrounding oedema in the MRI image indicating cerebral abscesses (arrow, part 2); a CT image of prostatic abscesses (arrow, part 3); a CT image of a mediastinal mass (arrow, part 4); a child with tense parotitis (arrow, part 5); X-ray image of severe pneumonia (arrow, part 6); photo of a subcutaneous abscess (arrow, part 7); and an MRI image of osteomyelitis of the distal femur with surrounding inflammation (arrow, part 8). Clinical images 1–4, 6–8 courtesy of Bart J. Currie, Menzies School of Health, Australia. Clinical image 5 is reproduced with permission from (REF. 249), Elsevier

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