Melioidosis, Southern Arizona | CDC EID

Melioidosis, Southern Arizona | CDC EID: "EID Journal Home > Volume 17, Number 7–July 2011

Volume 17, Number 7–July 2011
Dispatch
Epidemiology and Investigation of Melioidosis, Southern Arizona

Tasha Stewart, Comments to Author David M. Engelthaler, David D. Blaney, Apichai Tuanyok, Eric Wangsness, Theresa L. Smith, Talima Pearson, Kenneth K. Komatsu, Paul Keim, Bart J. Currie, Craig Levy, and Rebecca Sunenshine
Author affiliations: Arizona Department of Health Services, Phoenix, Arizona, USA (T. Stewart, E. Wangsness, K.K. Komatsu, C. Levy, R. Sunenshine); Translational Genomics Research Institute, Flagstaff, Arizona, USA (D.M. Engelthaler, P. Keim); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA (D.D. Blaney, T.L. Smith, R. Sunenshine); Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff (A. Tuanyok, T. Pearson, P. Keim); and Menzies School of Health Research and Royal Darwin Hospital, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia (B.J. Currie)

Suggested citation for this article

Abstract
Burkholderia pseudomallei is a bacterium endemic to Southeast Asia and northern Australia, but it has not been found to occur endemically in the United States. We report an ostensibly autochthonous case of melioidosis in the United States. Despite an extensive investigation, the source of exposure was not identified.

Burkholderia pseudomallei is endemic to Southeast Asia and northern Australia; the organism has also been identified on other continents and islands but not North America (1). B. pseudomallei is present in soil and water and can cause infection through inhalation, aspiration, ingestion, or percutaneous inoculation (2–4). Persons with certain chronic health conditions, particularly diabetes, are predisposed to melioidosis disease after exposure to this bacterium. Person-to-person transmission has been documented but is rare (5). Clinical signs of the disease vary, depending in part on the route of exposure, and can manifest as pneumonia, septicemia, or single or multiple abscesses (2). Treatment is prolonged and made more difficult by the bacterium's intrinsic resistance to antimicrobial drugs (6). No cases of B. pseudomallei infection have been documented in the United States in persons without a history of prior travel to a country where the disease is endemic (7).

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Suggested Citation for this Article

Stewart T, Engelthaler DM, Blaney DD, Tuanyok A, Wangsness E, Smith TL, et al. Epidemiology and investigation of melioidosis, southern Arizona. Emerg Infect Dis [serial on the Internet]. 2011 Jul [date cited]. http://www.cdc.gov/EID/content/17/7/1286.htm

DOI: 10.3201/eid1707.100661

Comments to the Authors

Please use the form below to submit correspondence to the authors or contact them at the following address:

Tasha Stewart, Arizona Department of Health Services, 150 N 18th Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85007, USA; email: stewarttasha@gmail.com