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Epidemiology

A global picture of melioidosis

Nature volume 529, pages 290–291 (2016)Cite this article

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Comprehensive mapping and modelling have estimated global deaths from the bacterial disease melioidosis to be comparable to deaths from measles and substantially greater than those from dengue or leptospirosis.

The bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei is found in soil and water and causes the disease melioidosis in humans and animals. It was upgraded to a Tier 1 Select Agent by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2012 — the designation given to pathogens considered of highest risk. This concern is based on a mortality rate of up to 40%, the fact that B. pseudomallei can be easily aerosolized in laboratory studies, its intrinsic resistance to standard antimicrobial agents and the lack of a vaccine. Writing in Nature Microbiology, Limmathurotsakul et al.1 compile global literature on cases of melioidosis in humans and animals, and on the environmental presence of B. pseudomallei. The authors combine these data with environmental and demographic parameters in a modelling framework to predict countries in which melioidosis is probably endemic, and to estimate the global burden of the disease.

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Figure 1: Environments conducive to Burkholderia pseudomallei success.

Left: Abbie Trayler-Smith/Panos; right: Penny Tweedie/Panos

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bart J. Currie and Mirjam Kaestli are in the Global and Tropical Health Division, Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory 0810, Australia.,

    Bart J. Currie & Mirjam Kaestli

  2. B.J.C. is also in the Infectious Diseases Department, Royal Darwin Hospital.,

    Bart J. Currie

Authors
  1. Bart J. Currie
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  2. Mirjam Kaestli
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Correspondence to Bart J. Currie or Mirjam Kaestli.

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Currie, B., Kaestli, M. A global picture of melioidosis. Nature 529, 290–291 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/529290a

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