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Melioidosis Risk in a Tropical Industrial Environment

An investigation into the risk of occupationally acquired melioidosis at a mine site in northern Australia found that 45 (13%) of 345 staff had serologic evidence of exposure and 14 (4%) had recent exposure to Burkholderia pseudomallei or closely related bacteria. There was only one culture-confirmed case of melioidosis in mine staff during the study period. The lack of overt infection directly attributable to work activities despite detectable B. pseudomallei on site, the absence of an association between positive serology and occupational activity on site, or duration of employment in the mining industry stand against a significant occupationally acquired infection risk on this industrial site. Workplace exposure to a dust-generating tropical environment in the melioidosis-endemic north of Australia did not appear to pose a measurable increase in infection risk. The effect of long-term climatic trends on this potential biologic threat requires further study.

Received July 16, 2008. Accepted for publication August 16, 2008.

Acknowledgments: We thank our colleagues at Path West Laboratory Medicine WA, Rio Tinto Group, and the University of Calgary for their assistance. We also thank Agilent Technologies for the loan of equipment and the provision of molecular biology reagents and Dr. G. Lum, previously of the Royal Darwin Hospital, for providing a clinical B. pseudomallei isolate.

Financial support: This study was funded by a project grant from the Minerals and Energy Resources Institute of Western Australia (MERIWA) and the Rio Tinto Group.

^* Address correspondence to Timothy J. J. Inglis, Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, PathWest Laboratory Medicine WA, Locked Bag 2009, Nedlands, Western Australia, Australia 6909. E-mail: tim.inglis{at}health.wa.gov.au

Authors’ addresses: Timothy J. J. Inglis, Avram Levy, Adam J. Merritt, and Meredith Hodge, Division of Microbiology & Infectious Diseases, PathWest Laboratory Medicine WA, Locked Bag 2009, Nedlands, Western Australia, Australia 6909. Robert McDonald, Rio Tinto, 120 Collins St., Melbourne 3000, Australia. Donald E. Woods, Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary Health Sciences Centre, 3330 Hospital Drive, NW Calgary, Alberta, T2N 4N1, Canada.