Melioidosis in Traveler from Africa to Spain

María I. Morosini

, Carmen Quereda, Horacio Gil, Pedro Anda, María Núñez-Murga, Rafael Cantón, and Rogelio López-Vélez

Author affiliations: Author affiliations: Ramón y Cajal University Hospital, Madrid, Spain (M.I. Morosini, C. Quereda, R. Cantón, R. López-Vélez); and National Center for Microbiology, Madrid (H. Gil, P. Anda)

Abstract

The worldwide epidemiology of melioidosis is changing. We describe a case of acute melioidosis in Spain in a patient who had traveled to Africa. A novel sequence type of Burkholderia pseudomallei was identified in this patient. Clinicians should be aware of the possibility of melioidosis in travelers returning from melioidosis-nonendemic regions.

Melioidosis is caused by infection with the gram-negative bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei. Autochthonous cases of melioidosis occur throughout Southeast Asia and northern Australia, but sporadic cases have occurred in other locations, and evidence suggests that the epidemiology of this disease is changing. Cases have been reported in tropical regions of South America, particularly northeastern Brazil (1), and other cases have been imported from the Caribbean (2). In addition, several cases have been identified in Africa and in travelers returning to European countries from Africa (Table). We report a case of acute melioidosis in a traveler from Africa who was admitted to a hospital in Madrid, Spain.