Emerging Infectious Diseases (May 2019)

Population-Based Estimate of Melioidosis, Kenya

  • Esther M. Muthumbi,
  • Nicola C. Gordon,
  • George Mochamah,
  • Sammy Nyongesa,
  • Emily Odipo,
  • Salim Mwarumba,
  • Neema Mturi,
  • Anthony O. Etyang,
  • David A.B. Dance,
  • J. Anthony G. Scott,
  • Susan C. Morpeth

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2505.180545
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 25, no. 5
pp. 984 – 987

Abstract

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Melioidosis is thought to be endemic, although underdiagnosed, in Africa. We identified 5 autochthonous cases of Burkholderia pseudomallei infection in a case series in Kenya. Incidence of B. pseudomallei bacteremia in Kenya’s Kilifi County is low, at 1.5 cases per million person-years, but this result might be an underestimate.

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