Melioidosis, Latest News

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Melioidosis Latest News

A recent study has revealed that melioidosis disease in Odisha has clear seasonality, with infections peaking during and after the monsoon season.

About Melioidosis

It is a bacterial infectious disease caused by Burkholderia pseudomallei.
B. pseudomallei lives in surface water (streams, rivers, lakes) and soil, mostly in tropical or subtropical areas.
It is endemic in Southeast Asia, northern Australia, much of the Indian subcontinent, southern China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
It is also sometimes called Whitmore’s disease.
It has a high case fatality rate (CFR) ranging from 16% to 50% in known endemic regions.
Transmission:
- Both humans and animals can get melioidosis, but people can’t get it from animals.
- It’s spread to people and animals through direct contact with soil, air, or water contaminated by the bacteria.
- Cases may increase after hurricanes, heavy rain, and other severe weather events because the bacteria rise to the surface of the soil.
In areas where it’s more commonly found, melioidosis usually affects adults 40 to 60 years old with certain underlying conditions. Children under 15 rarely get melioidosis.
Symptoms:
- Melioidosis may present with localised infection (such as cutaneous abscess), pneumonia, meningoencephalitis, sepsis, or chronic suppurative infection.
- Depending on the site of infection, common symptoms include fever, headache, localised pain or swelling, ulceration, chest pain, cough, shortness of breath, haemoptysis, and swelling of regional lymph nodes.
Treatment:
- It can be treated with antibiotics.
- Long-term treatment may be necessary for some chronic infection cases.