A Report from the Cambodia Training Event for Awareness of Melioidosis (C-TEAM), October 2017.

Sotharith Bory,Luciano Tuseo,Sopheap Oeng,Srun Sok,Gaetan Khim,Paul Turner,Joanne Letchford,Chan Vibol,Frances Daily,Hero Kol,Muy Seang Lak

doi:10.3390/tropicalmed3010023

Abstract

Melioidosis is an endemic infection in Cambodia, a lower middle income SE Asian country. Despite more laboratories isolating and identifying Burkholderia pseudomallei in recent years, the infection remains under-recognised and under-diagnosed, particularly in the adult population. Lack of knowledge about the disease and lack of utilization of microbiology laboratories contributes to this, along with laboratory capacity issues. Treatment costs often hamper optimal management. In response to these issues, a national one-health training event was held in October 2017 to raise awareness of the disease amongst clinical, laboratory, and public health professionals. The meeting format, findings, and outcomes are described here.

Highlights

Melioidosis, infection by the environmental Gram-negative bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei, is an endemic but significantly unrecognized disease in Cambodia, a lower middle income SE Asian country with a population of ~16 million
With aim of improving clinical, laboratory, and public health professional awareness of melioidosis, a national one-health training event was held in Phnom Penh, 17–19 October 2017
The recently updated national treatment guidelines were presented and discussed and encouragement was given to participants to collect case data prospectively in the hope of gaining more knowledge about the local epidemiology

Summary

Introduction

Melioidosis, infection by the environmental Gram-negative bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei, is an endemic but significantly unrecognized disease in Cambodia, a lower middle income SE Asian country with a population of ~16 million It was first diagnosed in Phnom Penh in 1928 in a Russian national, he was almost certainly infected in Thailand [1]. Pulmonary melioidosis was described in a resettled refugee who had lived in Thailand for several years before diagnosis [2], and a porcine outbreak was identified in the 1960s [3] It was not until 2005, that human melioidosis cases began to be regularly identified in-country, initially in children following the establishment of a diagnostic microbiology laboratory at Angkor Hospital for Children, Siem Reap [4]. With aim of improving clinical, laboratory, and public health professional awareness of melioidosis, a national one-health training event was held in Phnom Penh, 17–19 October 2017

The C-TEAM Meeting

Summary of the Current Situation

Findings

Outcomes and Future Plans