Case Review of Melioidosis in a Tertiary Care Centre from Northern Sri Lanka

Melioidosis is sporadically reported from various parts of Sri Lanka. It is a major recent endemic in Northern Sri Lanka. The causative organism Burkholderia pseudomallei, a Gram-negative, oxidase positive bacillus. The first case of melioidosis was reported in a European tea broker in 1927 in Sri Lanka. We present a case series of seven patients of culture or serologically proven melioidosis from Northern Sri Lanka, highlighting the different clinical manifestations of the disease .Melioidosis had an array of clinical presentation involving multiple abscesses in the skin, liver, spleen, mediastinum and septic arthritis. It presented as either an acute fulminant septicemia with a high mortality or a chronic localized infection. Most cases had predisposing risk factors such as diabetes, chronic kidney disease and occupational risk.