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Serologic Studies on Subclinical Melioidosis¹

From the Naval Biological Laboratory, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, California

Abstract

Of 337 sera from apparently healthy adult Thai males, 8.3% gave positive complement fixation reactions for melioidosis. Only 1 of 78 sera from Thai females was positive. None of 138 sera from a control group in the United States was positive with this test.

Of 405 Thai sera, 29.1% gave positive hemagglutination reactions for melioidosis with a purified polysaccharide antigen. Only 7.4% of the control group in the United States gave positive reactions with this test. The protein antigen used in similar hemagglutination tests was not suitable for diagnostic purposes because positive reactions, apparently not referable to melioidosis, were encountered with this antigen in some sera.

The combined results of the serologic survey indicated that subclinical or unrecognized mild melioidosis was probably rather prevalent in Thailand and that the 95% mortality figure for melioidosis as reported in the literature was not tenable.

The significance of the serologic results in relation to the epidemiology of melioidosis is discussed.

Footnotes

¹ This work was sponsored by the Office of Naval Research and the United States Army Chemical Corps, Fort Detrick, Maryland, under the terms of a contract between the Office of Naval Research and the Regents of the University of California. Reproduction in whole or in part is permitted for any purpose of the United States Government.