Publication: Predicted global distribution of Burkholderia pseudomallei and burden of melioidosis
Issued Date
2016-01-11
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20585276
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2-s2.0-84989921815
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Mahidol University
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SCOPUS
Bibliographic Citation
Nature Microbiology. Vol.1, No.1 (2016)
Suggested Citation
Direk Limmathurotsakul, Nick Golding, David A.B. Dance, Jane P. Messina, David M. Pigott, Catherine L. Moyes, Dionne B. Rolim, Eric Bertherat, Nicholas P.J. Day, Sharon J. Peacock, Simon I. Hay Predicted global distribution of Burkholderia pseudomallei and burden of melioidosis. Nature Microbiology. Vol.1, No.1 (2016). doi:10.1038/nmicrobiol.2015.8 Retrieved from: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/20.500.14594/43166
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Title
Predicted global distribution of Burkholderia pseudomallei and burden of melioidosis
Other Contributor(s)
Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics
Mahidol University
Wellcome Trust Research Unit
University of Oxford
Universidade de Fortaleza
Organisation Mondiale de la Sante
University of Cambridge
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
University of Washington, Seattle
National Institutes of Health, Bethesda
Mahidol University
Wellcome Trust Research Unit
University of Oxford
Universidade de Fortaleza
Organisation Mondiale de la Sante
University of Cambridge
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
University of Washington, Seattle
National Institutes of Health, Bethesda
Abstract
© 2016 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved. Burkholderia pseudomallei, a highly pathogenic bacterium that causes melioidosis, is commonly found in soil in Southeast Asia and Northern Australia1,2. Melioidosis can be difficult to diagnose due to its diverse clinical manifestations and the inadequacy of conventional bacterial identification methods3. The bacterium is intrinsically resistant to a wide range of antimicrobials, and treatment with ineffective antimicrobials may result in case fatality rates (CFRs) exceeding 70%4,5. The importation of infected animals has, in the past, spread melioidosis to non-endemic areas6,7. The global distribution of B. pseudomallei and the burden of melioidosis, however, remain poorly understood. Here, we map documented human and animal cases and the presence of environmental B. pseudomallei and combine this in a formal modelling framework8-10 to estimate the global burden of melioidosis. We estimate there to be 165,000 (95% credible interval 68,000-412,000) human melioidosis cases per year worldwide, from which 89,000 (36,000-227,000) people die. Our estimates suggest that melioidosis is severely underreported in the 45 countries in which it is known to be endemic and that melioidosis is probably endemic in a further 34 countries that have never reported the disease. The large numbers of estimated cases and fatalities emphasize that the disease warrants renewed attention from public health officials and policy makers.