Emerging Infectious Diseases (Nov 2023)

Clinical Manifestations and Genomic Evaluation of Melioidosis Outbreak among Children after Sporting Event, Australia

  • Simon Smith,
  • Tonia Marquardt,
  • Amy V. Jennison,
  • Andrew D’Addona,
  • James Stewart,
  • Trent Yarwood,
  • Jennifer Ho,
  • Enzo Binotto,
  • Julian Harris,
  • Mark Fahmy,
  • Juliet Esmonde,
  • Megan Richardson,
  • Rikki M.A. Graham,
  • Richard Gair,
  • Lawrence Ariotti,
  • Annie Preston-Thomas,
  • Sally Rubenach,
  • Siobhan O’Sullivan,
  • Darren Allen,
  • Thomas Ragh,
  • Sachjuan Grayson,
  • Sophie Manoy,
  • Jeffery M. Warner,
  • Ella M. Meumann,
  • Jennifer M. Robson,
  • Josh Hanson

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2911.230951
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 29, no. 11
pp. 2218 – 2228

Abstract

Read online

Melioidosis, caused by the environmental gram-negative bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei, usually develops in adults with predisposing conditions and in Australia more commonly occurs during the monsoonal wet season. We report an outbreak of 7 cases of melioidosis in immunocompetent children in Australia. All the children had participated in a single-day sporting event during the dry season in a tropical region of Australia, and all had limited cutaneous disease. All case-patients had an adverse reaction to oral trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole treatment, necessitating its discontinuation. We describe the clinical features, environmental sampling, genomic epidemiologic investigation, and public health response to the outbreak. Management of this outbreak shows the potential benefits of making melioidosis a notifiable disease. The approach used could also be used as a framework for similar outbreaks in the future.

Keywords