Type III secretion (TTSI) genes of an HRP (hypersensitivity response and pathogenicity)-like locus were present in all 116 Northern Australian Burkholderia pseudomallei isolates tested but were not detected in other common environmental Burkholderia species. PCR of TTS1 genes may prove valuable as a diagnostic test [corrected].

Burkholderia pseudomallei is a Gram-negative environmental bacterium found in tropical climates that causes melioidosis. Culture remains the diagnostic gold standard, but isolation of B. pseudomallei from heavily contaminated sites, such as fecal specimens, can be difficult. We recently reported that B. pseudomallei is capable of infecting the gastrointestinal tract of mice and suggested that t...

Burkholderia pseudomallei, an environmental gram-negative bacillus, is the causative agent of melioidosis and a bio-threat agent. Reports of B. pseudomallei isolation from soil and animals in East and West Africa suggest that melioidosis might be more widely distributed than previously thought. Because it has been found in equatorial areas with tropical climates, we hypothesized that B. pseudom...

Infection by the Gram-negative pathogen Burkholderia pseudomallei results in the disease melioidosis, acquired from the environment in parts of southeast Asia and northern Australia. Clinical symptoms of melioidosis range from acute (fever, pneumonia, septicemia, and localized infection) to chronic (abscesses in various organs and tissues, most commonly occurring in the lungs, liver, spleen, ki...

Within 2 months of acquiring glanders, a patient developed 8-, 16-, and 4-fold increases, respectively, in specific IgA, IgG, and IgM serological titers against Burkholderia mallei. Within 14 months of infection, the titers decreased to the baseline. Serum from this patient was also highly reactive against Burkholderia pseudomallei whole cells. Burkholderia mallei whole cells did not react with...

Figure 2. Gram stain of a blood culture showing a gram-negative rod with bipolar staining, giving the cell a distinctive " safety pin " appearance (original magnification, ϫ1000). Figure 1. Magnetic resonance angiography showing a mycotic aneu-rysm of the left common iliac artery caused by Burkholderia pseudomallei. Diagnosis: A mycotic aneurysm due to Burkholderia pseudomallei. Laboratory and ...

Identification and characterization of near-neighbor species are critical to the development of robust molecular diagnostic tools for biothreat agents. One such agent, Burkholderia pseudomallei, a soil bacterium and the causative agent of melioidosis, is lacking in this area because of its genomic diversity and widespread geographic distribution. The Burkholderia genus contains over 60 species ...

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is one of the most important virulence and antigenic components of Burkholderia pseudomallei, the causative agent of melioidosis. LPS diversity in B. pseudomallei has been described as typical, atypical or rough, based upon banding patterns on SDS-PAGE. Here, we studied the genetic and molecular basis of these phenotypic differences. Bioinformatics was used to determine...

The ability of Burkholderia pseudomallei to persist and survive in the environment is a health problem worldwide. Therefore, the antibacterial activities of chitosan against four environmental isolates of B. pseudomallei from soil in Khon Kaen, Thailand, were investigated. Antibacterial activities were assessed by a plate count technique after treatment with 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2 or 5 mg ml-1 chitosan...

Yao-Shen Chen, Ssu-Ching Chen, Tsu-Rong Wu, Chih-Ming Kao and Ya-Lei Chen* Section of Infectious Disease, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Graduate Institute of Environmental Education and Department of Biotechnology, National Kaohsiung Normal University, Department of Medical Technology, Fooyin Unversity, Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Sun Yat-Sen University, Kaohsiung, T...