Burkholderia pseudomallei in water

Burkholderia pseudomallei is well suited to prolonged survival in water and can tolerate arange of physical and chemical stresses. Its distribution in surface water and moist soil ensures contact with free-living aquatic protozoa and other eukaryotes, in which B. pseudomallei may find a favourable intracellular habitat that assists long term survival. Water droplets are the presumed vehicle for transmission of B. pseudomallei during the rainy season, when the peak incidence of melioidosis occurs. At least three clusters of septicaemic infection have occurred in association with water supplies. Water treatment with chlorine may have been successful in preventing further cases, although some strains of B. pseudomallei are chlorine tolerant. B. pseudomallei in water issensitive to broad-wavelength ultraviolet (UV) light, suggesting that the peak incidence of acute septicaemic disease might be due as much to the absence of UV light as to the presence ofcontaminated rain drops.