Are we dealing with melioidosis under the mask of tuberculosis? - A case series

Melioidosis is prevalent in South-East Asia. India is now become endemic to melioidosis. Melioidosis mimicks Tuberculosis (TB) and is often overlooked clinically. The spectrum of disease ranges from acute pulmonary infection to focal infection and septicemia. We report three cases of melioidosis, which was primarily suspected to be tuberculosis due to similarities in the clinical features. All patients were male and had risk factors such as type 2 diabetes mellitus as well as other risk factors such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), systemic hypertension, glucocorticoid therapy etc. All three patient samples were culture negative as well as negative for tests performed for the detection of tuberculosis. Conventional nested PCR targeting 251bp of 16S-23S spacer region of B. pseudomallei. was performed among individuals suspected to have extrapulmonary Tuberculosis. The presence of 251 bp was considered positive for B. pseudomallei. All three patients were treated with third generation cephalosporin and recovered due to timely diagnosis. Patients suspected for tuberculosis should be screened for B. pseudomallei, especially when AFB smear and MTB GeneXpert are negative. Often clinical samples may be culture negative for B. pseudomallei as patients are treated with antibiotics, therefore it is worthwhile performing PCR for B. pseudomallei to rule in a diagnosis of melioidosis and initiate appropriate antibiotics.