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M., Gottschau, A., Molbak, K., Dias, F. & Lauritzen, E. (1992). Lack of evidence of vertical transmission of human immunodeficiency virus type 2 in a sample of the general population in Bissau. Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, 5,25-30. Ryder, R. W., Nsa, W., Hassig, S. E., Behets, F., Rayfield, M., Ekungola, B., Nelson, A. M., Mulenda, U., Francis, H., Mwandgalirwa, K., Davachi, F., Rogers, M., Nzilambi, N., Greenberg, A., Mann, J., Quinn, T. C., Piot, I’. & Curran, J. Sibailly, T. S., Adjorlolo, G., Gayle, H., Ekpini, E., Bratte- gaard, K., Doorly, R., Kestens, L., Ou, C.-Y., George, R. & De Cock, K. M. (1992). Prospective study to compare HIV-l and HIV-2 perinatal transmission in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. VIII International Conference on AIDS/III STD World Con- gress, Amsterdam, 19-24July 1992, abstract no. WeC 1065. Received 21 April 1993; revised 28June 1993; accepted for publication 8 July I993 TRANSACTIONS OF TAE ROYAL SOCIETY OF TROPICAL MEDICINE AND HYGIENE (1994) 88, 181 IShort Report1 Melioidosis survey in Kenya B. I. F. Batchelorl, J. Paul’, S. Trakulsomboonz, M. Mgongol and D. A. B. Dance3 ‘Kenya Medical Re- search Institute, Nairobi, Kenya; Xentral Public Health Laboratory, Colindale, London, UK; 3London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK Melioidosis is known to be endemic in south-east Asia and northern Australia and sporadic cases have been de- scribed in other tropical regions, where it is possible that the diseaseis underdiagnosed. Recent reports described the epidemiology of melioidosis in northern Vietnam (VAN PHUNG et al., 1993) and Papua New Guinea (CUR- RIE, 1993) but the distribution of the causative organism, Burkholderia pseudomallei (formerly Pseudomonas pseudo- mallei) in Africa is not so well defined. It has been iso- lated from humans, animals and the environment in West Africa and Madagascar (DANCE, 1991) and one case, of a Danish tourist, is the only evidence of melioi- dosis in Kenya (BREMMELGAARD it al., 1982). During the neriod 1989-1992 we failed to isolate B. nseudomallei from any clinical material received from patients living in Nairobi, Kenya, despite examining over 2700 sputum samples and 6300 blood cultures. To explore the possi- bility of the organism’s existing in more rural areas of Kenya we conducted an environmental survey for B. pseudomallei during 1992. Three study sites, Nyali (Coastal Province, Kilifi Dis- trict), Mwea (Central Province, Kirinyaga District) and Ahero (Nyanza Province, Kisumu District) were chosen: Nyali was incriminated as a possible source of infection by BREMMELGAARD et al. (1982), whilst Mwea and -Ahero are Kenya’s principle rice growing areas,a habitat favoured by B. pseudomallei in Asia (DANCE, 1991). Sampling took place over a period of 8 months, Nyali being visited during both the wet and dry seasons. - Soil 12 g). or the centrifuged denosit of 50 mL of water, was-inoculated into L-&eon&e broth (DODIN & GALIMAND: 1976), incubated for 48 h and subcultured on to modrfied Ashdown’s medium (WUTHIEKANUN et al., 1990). All cultures were incubated at 42°C. and ao- prdpriatecontrols were included. Eighty-one soil and 71 water sampleswere tested. Oxi- daserpositive, gentamicin-resistant -and colistin-resistant strains were tested bv AI’1 20NE [DANCE et al., 1989). Only one isolate, cultured from the dry bed of the Man- Address for correspondence: Barry Batchelor, Public Health Laboratory, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK. gata river, north-west of Nyali, had colonial morphology and biochemistry indicative of B. pseudomallei. However, the isolate did not react with reference antisera, nor did its ribotyping characteristics resemble those of reference isolates. We conclude that B. pseudomallei is not prevalent in the Kenyan environment, despite its isolation in other parts of Africa, and that the lack of reported melioidosis is due to its genuine scarcity and not underdiagnosis. Preliminary findings from a serological survey in Uganda found antibodies to B. pseudomallei in 5.9% of the in- digenous population (FRAZER, 1982) and further sero- logical studies are needed to define the incidence of expo- sure to B. pseudomallei in East Africa. B. pseudomallei is an opportunist, causing diseasein immunocompromised individuals. In view of the increasing numbers of pa- tients with human immunodeficiency virus in Kenya, one might expect the emergence of melioidosis, should sufficient environmental exposure to the organism occur. Acknowledgements We thank Dr T. L. Pitt (Central Public Health Laboratoni, London) for assistance with ribotyping, serology and biochemi- cal characterization. This study was part of the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI)/WdCOIIX Trust collaborative pro- gramme and was supported by the Wellcome Trust, UK.We thank Grace Bomu, KEMRI Coastal Unit, for her support. References Bremmelgaard, A.,, Bygbjerg, I. B. & Hoiby, N. (1982). Micro- biological and immunological studies in a caseof human me- lioidosis diagnosed in Denmark. Scandinavian Journal of Infectious Diseases, 14,. 271-275. Currie, B. (1993). Melioidosis in Paoua New Guinea: is it less common than in tropical Australia? Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 87,417. Dance, D. A. B. (1991). Melioidosis: the tip of the iceberg? ClinicalMicrobiology Reviews. 4, 52-60. Dance, D. A. B., Wurhiekanun;V., Naigowit, I?. &White, N. J. (1989). Identification of Pseudomonaspseudomallei in clini- cal practice: use of simple screening tests and the API 20NE. Journal ofClinical Pathology, 42,645-648. Dodin, A. & Galimand, M. (1976). Le bacille de Whitmore. Re- cueil de Medecine Veterinaire de 1’Ecole d’Alfort, 152,323-325. Frazer, D. N. (1982). Melioidosis. Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps, 128,123-130. Van Phung, L., Quynh, H. T., Yabuuchi, E. & Dance, D. A. B. (1993). Pilot study of exposure to Pseudomonaspseudomal- lei in northern Vietnam. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 87,416. Wuthiekanun, V., Dance, D. A. B., Wattanagoon, Y., Suput- tamongkol, Y., Chaowagul, W. & White, N. J. (1990). The use of selective media for the isolation of Pseudomonas pseu- domallei in clinical practice. Journal of Medical Microbiology, 33,121-126. Received 5 October 1993; accepted for publication 6 October 1993