Melioidosis is infection caused by the gram-negative, flagellated soil saprophyte Burkholderia pseudomallei, which is endemic in parts of southeast Asia and northern Australia. Sepsis is a common clinical presentation of disease, and lung is the organ most commonly involved. In northern Thailand, where B. pseudomallei is the most common bloodstream isolate, the overall melioidosis mortality rate exceeds 40%, and pneumonia confers more than 2-fold increased risk of death (summary by West et al., 2013). [from
OMIM]