MELIOIDOSIS

Abstract

Melioidosis is a specific infection caused by the glanders-like bacillus, Malleomyces pseudomallei. This organism usually produces an acute pulmonary and septicemic form of the disease, with multiple miliary abscesses in the viscera and with early death, but occasionally causes a chronic form, with multiple sinuses of the soft tissue, which is similar to glanders. About 300 cases have been reported, nearly all of them from the Far East. Krishnaswami 1 observed 200 cases in Rangoon and others have been reported from elsewhere in Burma, the Federated Malay States, Indo-China, Siam, Ceylon and the Dutch East Indies. Grant and Barwell 2 observed a chronic case in England in a British soldier who contracted it in the island of Penang. Mayer and Finlayson 1 reported a chronic case from South Africa in a soldier who contracted it in the island of Singapore. Cox and Arbogast 3 recorded an instance of the disease