title: Melioidosis In India: the tip of the iceberg?
abstract: Diagnosis of melioidosis by the isolation of Burkholderia pseudomallei from one or more body fluid/tissue specimens of 6 Indian subjects, 5 of whom had not travelled outside India, is reported. The places of residence of these 6 and one patient previously reported, namely Tripura (2), Kerala (2), Orissa (1), Tamil Nadu (1) and Maharashtra (1) are therefore potentially endemic for melioidosis. B.pseudomallei closely resembles common contaminant Pseudomonas sp. and are easily mis-identified in microbiology laboratories. We surmise that melioidosis is underdiagnosed and underreported in India and we alert clinicians, microbiologists and public health professionals to the possibility of melioidosis being far more common than previously recognised.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Christian Medical College & Hospital, Vellore.
authors.forename: T J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: John
authors.forename: M V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Jesudason
authors.forename: M K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Lalitha
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ganesh
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Mohandas
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Cherian
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mathai
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Chandy
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D016957:Burkholderia pseudomallei / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D002648:Child; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008554:Melioidosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011552:Pseudomonas Infections / Q000175:diagnosis