Melioidosis in southern India: Epidemiological and clinical profile

Melioidosis, which is mainly prevalent in Thailand and Australia, has shown an increasing trend in India in the last few years. We carried out a retrospective study of 25 culture-proven adult cases of melioidosis who were admitted to a tertiary care hospital in southern India during June 2001 to September 2007. There was a six-fold increase in the number of cases in 2006 and 2007 as compared to 2001. Diabetes mellitus was the predisposing factor in 68% of cases, followed by alcoholism (28%). The clinical presentations were fever (80%), pneumonia and/or pleural effusion (48%), hepatomegaly (56%), joint involvement, and/or osteomyelitis (48%), splenomegaly (40%), splenic abscess (24%) and septicemia (28%). The organism, Burkholderia pseudomallei, was sensitive to co-amoxiclav, cotrimoxazole, ceftazidime, and carbapenem. The study suggests that melioidosis is an emerging infectious disease in the southwestern coastal belt of India, and it is likely to happen at much higher incidence.