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MELIOIDOSIS
Author(s) -
Ashdown Leslie R.,
Duffy V. A.,
Douglas R. A.
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1980.tb134879.x
Subject(s) - melioidosis , medicine , burkholderia pseudomallei , incidence (geometry) , disease , epidemiology , concomitant , diabetes mellitus , malnutrition , intensive care medicine , surgery , pediatrics , pathology , genetics , physics , bacteria , optics , biology , endocrinology
During the five‐month wet season of 1977‐1978 in Northern Queensland, six patients with bacteriologically proven melioidosis were successfully treated at the Townsville General Hospital, Townsville. The clinical course and management of each case and laboratory findings are described. Factors which predisposed them to infection with Pseudomonas pseudomallei were diabetes mellitus, cancer, alcoholism, malnutrition, trauma, and pregnancy. Successful treatment of melioidosis relied on prompt laboratory diagnosis and appropriate chemotherapy together with surgical drainage of abscesses and management of concomitant diseases. The incidence of melioidosis in Northern Queensland has increased to the extent that it can no longer be considered a rare disease in this area. Because of increased internal and international travel, and displacement of refugees from endemic areas of Southeast Asia, physicians and microbiologists must maintain a high index of suspicion of melioidosis when dealing with patients after geographic exposure, as it is probable that, in the future, this disease will be encountered more frequently in non‐endemic areas.