The global disease burden of melioidosis is severely underestimated and the disease is present in many more countries than previously thought, reports a paper published online in Nature Microbiology. The study suggests that, globally, the annual number of deaths from melioidosis—caused by the highly pathogenic bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei—is similar to measles and far greater than dengue infection.

 

A multinational research team mapped recorded melioidosis cases (human and animal) and environmental reports of B. pseudomallei—published between 1910 and 2014—to estimate that melioidosis is severely under-reported in the 45 countries where it has already been reported, and that it is also present in an additional 34 countries that have never reported a case. The authors estimate that there are 165,000 human melioidosis cases per year worldwide, of which 89,000 will be fatal. They suggest these results highlight the need for this disease to be given a higher priority by international health organizations and policy makers.