Melioidosis: A Clinico- Epidemiological Study of 35 Cases

Melioidosis, which is mainly prevalent in Thailand and Australia, has shown an increasing trend in India in the last few years. This was a prospective study consisting of 35 culture-proven adult cases of melioidosis who were admitted to our tertiary care hospital at Karimnagar District, India during 2005 to 2010. Diabetes mellitus was the predisposing factor in 65% of cases, followed by alcoholism (31%). The clinical presentations were fever (85%), pneumonia and/or pleural effusion (45%), hepatomegaly (56%), joint involvement, and/or osteo-myelitis (48%), splenomegaly (40%), splenic abscess (24%) and septicemia (28%). The organism, Burkholderiapseudomallei, was sensitive to co-amoxiclav, cotrimoxazole, ceftazidime, and carbapenem. The study suggests that melioido-sis is an emerging infectious disease in the southwestern coastal belt of India, and it is likely to happen at much higher incidence.