title: Melioidosis in New Caledonia: a dominant strain in a transmission hotspot.
abstract: Melioidosis is an infectious disease caused by Burkholderia pseudomallei, a bacterium endemic in Southeast Asia and northern Australia. In New Caledonia, sporadic cases were first described in 2005; since then, more cases have been identified. To improve our understanding of melioidosis epidemiology in New Caledonia, we compared the local cases and B. pseudomallei isolates with those from endemic areas. Nineteen melioidosis cases have been diagnosed in New Caledonia since 1999, mostly severe and with frequent bacteraemia, leading to three (16%) fatalities. All but one occurred in the North Province. Besides sporadic cases caused by non-clonal strains, we also identified a hotspot of transmission related to a clonal group of B. pseudomallei that is phylogenetically related to Australian strains.
authors.affiliation: Institut Pasteur in New Caledonia,Medical Microbiology Laboratory,Nouméa,New Caledonia.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Melot
authors.affiliation: Institut Pasteur in New Caledonia,Medical Microbiology Laboratory,Nouméa,New Caledonia.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Colot
authors.affiliation: Centre Hospitalier Territorial de Nouvelle-Calédonie,Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases,Nouméa,New Caledonia.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lacassin
authors.affiliation: Centre Hospitalier du Nord de Nouvelle-Calédonie,Medical Microbiology Laboratory,Koumac,New Caledonia.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tardieu
authors.affiliation: Centre Hospitalier du Nord de Nouvelle-Calédonie,Emergency Unit and Acute Care Unit,Poindimié,New Caledonia.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lapisardi
authors.affiliation: Menzies School of Health Research,Charles Darwin University,Darwin,NT,Australia.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mayo
authors.affiliation: Menzies School of Health Research,Charles Darwin University,Darwin,NT,Australia.
authors.forename: E P
authors.initials: EP
authors.lastname: Price
authors.affiliation: Menzies School of Health Research,Charles Darwin University,Darwin,NT,Australia.
authors.forename: D S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Sarovich
authors.affiliation: Menzies School of Health Research,Charles Darwin University,Darwin,NT,Australia.
authors.forename: B J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Currie
authors.affiliation: Institut Pasteur in New Caledonia,Leptospirosis Research and Expertise Unit,Nouméa,New Caledonia.
authors.forename: C
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0690-9464
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Goarant
mesh_terms: D016470:Bacteremia / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000635:transmission; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D016957:Burkholderia pseudomallei / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008554:Melioidosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000635:transmission; D008875:Middle Aged; D058885:Multilocus Sequence Typing; D009510:New Caledonia / Q000453:epidemiology; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial
keywords: Epidemiology; melioidosis; molecular epidemiology