VetBact

Phylum	Class	Order	Family	Genus	Species/Subspecies

Species/Subspecies:

Burkholderia mallei

Categories:

Zoonotic; motile; notifiable diseases and bacteria

Etymology:

Genus name: named after the American bacteriologist W.H. Burkholder.
Species epithet: refers to the disease (glanders, which in latin is "malleus").

Significance:

Glanders has been globally distributed, but is now extinct in most developed countries. Sporadic cases occur in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, India, Pakistan, China, Central and South America. Rods is considered to be endemic in Mongolia.
[Very important]

Alternative Species Name(s):

Pseudomonas mallei

Taxonomy:

Phylum
Pseudomonadota

Class
Betaproteobacteria

Order
Burkholderiales

Family
Burkholderiaceae

Genus
Burkholderia

Type Strain:

NBL 7 = ATCC 23344 = NCTC 12938.

Macromorphology (smell):

Grey translucent colonies without smell or pigments. Does not give hemolysis on blood agar.

Micromorphology:

Small coccoid and nonmotile rods (0.5-1 x 1.5-3 µm) with rounded ends and apperaring in pair or bundles. B. mallei lacks flagella in contrast to other members of genus Burkholderia. However, this bacterium can move inside a host cell by actin-based motility.

Gram +/Gram -:

G-

Metabolism:

Facultatively anaerobic (because it kan can utilize NO₃^- as final electron acceptor in the absence of oxygen).

Catalase/Oxidase:

+/V

Fermentation of carbohydrates:

Burkholderia spp. do not ferment carbohydrates.

Spec. Char.:

Special Media:

Disease:

Hosts	Disease	Clinical picture
Horses and other equids	Glanders	Acute form: fever, mucopurulent nasal discharge, respiratory disorder and septicaemia. Chronic form: Pulmonary, small nodules in the respiratory tract, weight loss. Contagious (Farcy), lymphangitis, ulcers along lymphatic pathways. Healed ulcers could form "star-shaped" scars. Asymptomatic carriers occurs.
Humans	Glanders	Ulceration of the respiratory mucosa and eruption of nodules on the skin. Transmitted to humans by contact with infected animals.
Carnivores	Glanders	Nodules and ulcers in the nasal passages, conjunctivae, and deeper in the respiratory tract. Swelling of the lymph nodes, dyspnea and nonspecific signs (e.g., anorexia, depression). May become infected by eating infected meat.

Virulence Factors:

Capsule, sekretionssystem av typ III och IV as well as adhesion proteins, fimbria and system for quorum sensing.

Genome Sequence:

Acc-no	Strain	Size (bp)	Genome
NC_006348 and NC_006349	ATCC 23344	5 835 527	(2c + ?)

Chrom. I (3 510 148 bp) and chrom. II (2 325 379 bp), respectively.

16S rRNA Seq.:

Acc-no	Strain	Number of NT	Operon
AF110187	NCTC 10260	1488	4

Two rRNA genes in Chrom. I and two in chrom. II.

Taxonomy/phylogeny:

About 100 species have been described within genus Burkholderia, which is related to genus Taylorella. The two species of genus Burkholderia, which have beebn included in VetBact, are very closely related.

Legislation:

In Sweden glanders is notifiable to the Swedish Board of Agriculture. Burkholderia mallei belongs to category B as a potential bioterrorism agent according to NIAID.

Comment:

Glanders is highly contagious, only a few organisms are needed and it is easily spread by aerosol.

Updated:

2023-03-22

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