Seronegative bacteremic melioidosis caused by Burkholderia pseudomallei with ambiguous biochemical profile: Clinical importance of accurate identification by 16S rRNA gene and groEL gene sequencing

Patrick C.Y. Woo, Susanna K.P. Lau, Gibson K.S. Woo, Ami M.Y. Fung, Antonio H.Y. Ngan, Wai Ting Hui, Kwok Yung Yuen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

24 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

An aerobic gram-negative bacterium was isolated from the blood and sputum of an 84-year-old, chair-bound nursing home resident with acute bacteremic pneumonia. Although the phenotypic characteristics suggested that the bacterium could be Burkholderia pseudomallei, the Vitek 1 system (GNI+), which can successfully identify 99% of B. pseudomallei strains, showed that the bacterium was "unidentified." Immunoglobulin G against the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of B. pseudomallei, as detected by an LPS-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay with 95% sensitivity, was negative in both the acute-phase and convalescent-phase sera. Sequencing of the groEL gene showed that the isolate was B. pseudomallei. Proper identification of the bacterium in this study is crucial, since there would be a radical difference in the duration of antimicrobial therapy.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3973-3977
Number of pages5
JournalJournal of Clinical Microbiology
Volume41
Issue number8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 1 2003
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

  • Microbiology (medical)

Cite this