Variable virulence factors in Burkholderia pseudomallei (melioidosis) associated with human disease.

ABSTRACT: Burkholderia pseudomallei is a Gram-negative environmental bacterium that causes melioidosis, a potentially life-threatening infectious disease affecting mammals, including humans. Melioidosis symptoms are both protean and diverse, ranging from mild, localized skin infections to more severe and often fatal presentations including pneumonia, septic shock with multiple internal abscesses and occasionally neurological involvement. Several ubiquitous virulence determinants in B. pseudomallei have already been discovered. However, the molecular basis for differential pathogenesis has, until now, remained elusive. Using clinical data from 556 Australian melioidosis cases spanning more than 20 years, we identified a Burkholderia mallei-like actin polymerization bimA(Bm) gene that is strongly asso

SUBMITTER: Sarovich DS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3950250 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature