Networking Across Continents for New Melioidosis Countermeasures

FORT BELVOIR, VA, UNITED STATES

06.30.2016

Courtesy Story

Defense Threat Reduction Agency's Chemical and Biological Technologies Department

Fort Belvoir, Va. The U.S. Department of Defense is working to develop effective countermeasures against the pathogen melioidosis, a biowarfare agent, to better protect warfighters. Recent collaboration between the U.S. and Southeast Asia partners is addressing research gaps and prioritizing research avenues from this threat.

Melioidosis, a CDC Category B pathogen, poses a substantial risk to warfighters deployed throughout Southeast Asia and parts of Australia. In addition, melioidosis poses a global health concern to populations in endemic regions, due to its multiple acquisition routes.

Melioidosis is a disease caused by the gram-negative bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei, which can be acquired via multiple routes, such as ingestion, skin contact or inhalation. Infection with B. pseudomallei results in an array of disease manifestations ranging from the severe acute to chronic and latent infections that can last for decades.

During the onset of infection, B. pseudomallei attaches to a host cell, survives and then replicates from within, including host immune cells meant to destroy invading organisms. The disease is historically associated with a high mortality rate due to the speed of disease progression, difficulty in diagnosing, and its inherent resistance to many antibiotics.

Both the intrinsic drug resistance and the intracellular lifestyle make successful antibiotic treatment difficult. The typical treatment regimen is both lengthy and intensive, often involving intravenous therapy followed by a months-long eradication phase with oral antibiotics. This eradication phase is essential to minimize the risk of relapse.

In addition to the naturally occurring infections, B. pseudomallei is also considered as a high-risk organism for deliberate misuse. The potential exists for humans to contract the disease following inhalational exposure to low bacterial numbers and acquiring strains from the environment.

The organism is endemic in the soil and water of many tropical areas across Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, northern Australia, and parts of Africa, South America and the Caribbean. Given the multi-regional threat and lengthy, suboptimal treatment regimen outcomes, solutions for effective medical countermeasures to mitigate or eradicate melioidosis will require a concerted effort.

Teams from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s Joint Science and Technology Office and Cooperative Biological Engagement Program are leading collaborative research with partners from the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases with scientists and health implementers from the Southeast Asia region.

Recently representatives convened to discuss diagnostics, epidemiology, health economics and public health approaches to melioidosis. The effort promoted regional capacity and cross-border, multidisciplinary research methods while addressing gaps in knowledge of the life cycle, prevalence and risk factors.

Researchers collaborated by sharing perspectives, experiences and standards for protocols. In addition, they identified needs for researching risk, burden, and diagnostic and surveillance methods. They also pinpointed needs for studying disease pathogenesis, immune response, vaccine development and therapeutics.

The collaboration resulted in identifying a number of important gaps and outlined the next steps for coordination activities. The effort provided an opportunity for dozens of regional scientists and researchers to explore opportunities for multidisciplinary investigations to enhance surveillance and diagnostics for melioidosis, a disease that is not only endemic and prevalent across the region, but a potential threat to the warfighter as a biowarfare agent.

POC: Dr. Lindsay Odell; [e-mail]

• Date Taken: 06.30.2016
• Date Posted: 07.07.2016 09:25
• Story ID: 203268
• Location: FORT BELVOIR, VA, US