Virulence of Burkholderia pseudomallei Strains from Western Hemisphere and Africa in Mice

Abstract

Melioidosis, caused by Burkholderia pseudomallei, is an emerging disease in the United States and was declared endemic to the Gulf Coast region in 2022. Melioidosis has been sporadically reported in the American continents, the Caribbean, and more recently in Africa. We conducted lethal dose analyses in BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice exposed to small particle aerosols of B. pseudomallei strains from the Western Hemisphere and Africa. Those isolates exhibit a variety of virulence patterns, including rapidly-lethal disease and delayed onset of fatal disease. We found that the isolates we tested grew similarly in culture but displayed major differences in biofilm formation. Our data contribute to the growing knowledge of geographically distinct B. pseudomallei isolates and aid in ensuring that medical countermeasures in development are effective against a diverse collection of bacterial strains.