Articles » Glanders: DBMD

Glanders: DBMD

Article title: Glanders: DBMD

Conditions: Glanders

Source: DBMD

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Glanders
(Burkholderia mallei)

   

Clinical Features	Primarily a disease of horses, mules, and donkeys. In humans, disease can occur in four basic forms: acute localized infection, septicemic illness, acute pulmonary infection, or chronic cutaneous infection. Symptoms include fever, malaise, pleuritic chest pain, cervical adenopathy, splenomegaly, and generalized papular/pustular eruptions. Mortality rate is over 50% despite antibiotic treatment.
Etiologic Agent	Burkholderia (formerly Pseudomonas) mallei, a gram-negative bacillus.
Incidence	Seldom occurs in humans. Sporadic. No naturally acquired cases have occurred in the United States in almost 60 years. Cases continue to occur in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and South America.
Sequelae	Systemic invasion can occur with resulting chronic abscessation.
Transmission	Generally transmitted from animals to humans. B. mallei is transmitted by invasion of nasal, oral, and conjunctival mucous membranes; by inhalation into the lungs; or through lacerated or abraded skin.
Risk Groups	Veterinarians, horse and donkey caretakers, abattoir workers, workers in laboratories where the organism is being handled or in areas where equines may be infected.
Surveillance	No national or state surveillance exists.
Trends	Remains extremely rare in humans. In 2000, a laboratory acquired case occurred.
Challenges	Development of rapid laboratory, clinical, and epidemiologic protocols for the timely detection of glanders infections resulting from bioterrorism.
Opportunities	Determining antibiotic susceptibility patterns among isolates of Burkholderia mallei.
	December 2001

 
 
 

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