TY - JOUR AU - Wiersinga, W. Joost AU - Birnie, Emma AU - Weehuizen, Tassili A.F. AU - Alabi, Abraham AU - Huson, Michaëla A.M. AU - in ’t Veld, Robert A. G. Huis AU - Mabala, Harry AU - Adzoda, Gregoire AU - Raczynski-Henk, Yannick AU - Esen, Meral AU - Lell, Bertrand AU - Kremsner, Peter AU - Visser, Caroline AU - Wuthiekanun, Vanaporn AU - Peacock, Sharon AU - van der Ende, Arie AU - Limmathurotsakul, Direk AU - Grobusch, Martin T1 - Clinical, Environmental, and Serologic Surveillance Studies of Melioidosis in Gabon, 2012–2013 T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2015 VL - 21 IS - 1 SP - 40 SN - 1080-6059 AB - 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. pseudomallei could exist in Gabon. During 2012–2013, we conducted a seroprevalance study in which we set up microbiology facilities at a large clinical referral center and prospectively screened all febrile patients by conducting blood cultures and testing for B. pseudomallei and related species; we also determined whether B. pseudomallei could be isolated from soil. We discovered a novel B. pseudomallei sequence type that caused lethal septic shock and identified B. pseudomallei and B. thailandensis in the environment. Our data suggest that melioidosis is emerging in Central Africa but is unrecognized because of the lack of diagnostic microbiology facilities. KW - Burkholderia pseudomallei KW - Burkholderia thailandensis KW - melioidosis KW - epidemiology KW - seroprevalance KW - Africa KW - Gabon KW - soil KW - sepsis KW - bacteria DO - 10.3201/eid2101.140762 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/21/1/14-0762_article ER - End of Reference