Melioidosis

An unusual melioidosis infection in Australia offers researchers a rare window into understanding how highly pathogenic bacteria can adapt to life within a host.

Four EPI researchers have contributed to the discovery of two molecules shown to be effective at curbing Gram-negative Burkholderia bacterial infections, which cause the highly lethal tropical disease melioidosis in humans and animals.

Once thought to live only in Southeast Asia, the bacteria that cause melioidosis are now known to exist in South and Central America plus the Caribbean.

Melioidosis is a less-well known bacterial disease discovered just over 100 years ago in Burma (now Myanmar) in Southeast Asia. It is mostly a disease of the tropical and subtropical regions of the world and is associated with high mortality. Melioidosis is caused by the bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei that patients, particularly rice farmers, usually acquire from environmental sources such as contaminated soil and water. The disease affects mostly patients with underlying conditions, which include diabetes, malignancies such as cancer, and alcoholism. B. pseudomallei is scarcely transmitted from human-to-human and although it can infect many animals and insects, animal-to-human or insect-to-human transmissions have not been documented.