A case of disseminated melioidosis: clinical insights and management

Satyajit S. Dharme; Prasanna H. Gaikwad; Preeti N.  Jain; Lekharaj V. Kesare

doi:10.18203/2320-6012.ijrms20262200

Authors

Satyajit S. Dharme Department of General Medicine, Bharatratna Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Municipal and General Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Prasanna H. Gaikwad Department of General Medicine, Bharatratna Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Municipal and General Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Preeti N. Jain Department of Pathology, Bharatratna Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Municipal and General Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Lekharaj V. Kesare Department of General Medicine, Bharatratna Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Municipal and General Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18203/2320-6012.ijrms20262200

Keywords:

Melioidosis, Burkholderia pseudomallei, Pneumonia, Sepsis, Fatal, Diabetes mellitus

Abstract

Melioidosis is an infectious disease of humans and animals resulting from infection with the gram-negative organism Burkholderia pseudomallei. Known as the “great mimicker”, melioidosis presents with a wide spectrum of disease including isolated cutaneous/pulmonary disease, primary bacteremia, visceral abscesses or fulminant fatal septicaemia. The mean incubation period is nine days (1-21 days) but symptoms can evolve more quickly (<24 h) following inhalational and/or presumed aspiration events. In acute disease, sepsis syndrome is common; >50% of patients are bacteremic at presentation and 20% develop septic shock. Pulmonary involvement is the most common acute infection in adults responsible for >50% of presentations, while pneumonia is seen in approximately 20% of paediatric cases. Presentations in children more frequently have skin involvement (60%), compared with 13% in adults. In our case report, patient was a 41year-old male, resident of Ratnagiri district, farmer by occupation, presented with fever for 1 month, cough and breathlessness for same period. He was successfully treated with meropenem and doxycycline and put on maintenance therapy for duration of 12 weeks.

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