Outbreak of melioidosis in a highly urbanized area

In 2022, an outbreak of melioidosis occurred at a highly urbanized district (the SSP district) in Hong Kong. There was a 5-fold increase in cases compared to the average number of cases in the preceding years, with the SSP district accounting for 71.1% of the cases. A total of 568 environmental specimens were collected, including 290 environmental samples and 38 air samples from the freshwater service reservoirs (FWSRs), 16 water samples, and 224 environmental samples from the households of infected cases. <i>Burkholderia pseudomallei</i> was cultured from 24 (10.7%) soil samples obtained from the lawn overlying the FWSRs supplying the SSP district or from the surroundings of the air vents used for pressure equalization in the FWSRs. These culture isolates from soil have the same genotype ST-1996 as the patients' isolates. As <i>B. pseudomallei</i> DNA was also detected from the swabs collected from the internal roofs of the FWSRs and inside the water tap at the home of an infected case, the chlorine concentration at the upstream treatment plant outlet was increased from 1 to 1.2 ppm as a precautionary measure. The number and proportion of newly diagnosed melioidosis cases from the SSP district significantly reduced from 32 (71.1%) in 2022 to 6 (35.3%) in 2023 (<i>p</i> = 0.018).

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Publication Details

Journal
Emerging Microbes & Infections
Published
2025-07-24
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/22221751.2025.2539194
Primary Topic
Burkholderia infections and melioidosis
Type
article
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article

Outbreak of melioidosis in a highly urbanized area

Hoi-Kei Wong, David Christopher Lung, Sally S. M. Leung, Vincent Chi‐Chung Cheng et al.
Emerging Microbes & Infections
Burkholderia infections and melioidosis
article

Outbreak of melioidosis in a highly urbanized area

Hoi-Kei Wong, David Christopher Lung, Sally S. M. Leung, Vincent Chi‐Chung Cheng, Kelvin Hei‐Yeung Chiu, Shuk‐Ching Wong, Cyril Chik‐Yan Yip, Prudence W. H. Wong, Jonathan Hon-Kwan Chen, Edwin Kwan-Yeung Chiu, Xin Li, Kwok-Yung Yuen, Alan Ka-Lun Tsang, Sally C. Y. Wong, Janice Lo, Tiffany Didik, Rosana Wing‐Shan Poon, Betsy Wai-Ka Chan, Simon Yung-Chun So, Albert Ka-Wing Au, Magar Ng, Shuk-Kwan Chuang, Tsz-Yung Hui
article en

Abstract

In 2022, an outbreak of melioidosis occurred at a highly urbanized district (the SSP district) in Hong Kong. There was a 5-fold increase in cases compared to the average number of cases in the preceding years, with the SSP district accounting for 71.1% of the cases. A total of 568 environmental specimens were collected, including 290 environmental samples and 38 air samples from the freshwater service reservoirs (FWSRs), 16 water samples, and 224 environmental samples from the households of infected cases. <i>Burkholderia pseudomallei</i> was cultured from 24 (10.7%) soil samples obtained from the lawn overlying the FWSRs supplying the SSP district or from the surroundings of the air vents used for pressure equalization in the FWSRs. These culture isolates from soil have the same genotype ST-1996 as the patients' isolates. As <i>B. pseudomallei</i> DNA was also detected from the swabs collected from the internal roofs of the FWSRs and inside the water tap at the home of an infected case, the chlorine concentration at the upstream treatment plant outlet was increased from 1 to 1.2 ppm as a precautionary measure. The number and proportion of newly diagnosed melioidosis cases from the SSP district significantly reduced from 32 (71.1%) in 2022 to 6 (35.3%) in 2023 (<i>p</i> = 0.018).

Emerging Microbes & InfectionsVol. 14(1)
Department of Health (CN), Chinese University of Hong Kong (HK), Queen Mary Hospital (CN), Duchess of Kent Children's Hospital (CN), Queen Elizabeth Hospital (GB), Queen Elizabeth Hospital (CN), University of Hong Kong (HK)
Sustainable cities and communities
Openalex Percentile: Top 74%
Burkholderia infections and melioidosis
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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