Chest ImagingMelioidosis
infection caused by Gram-negative bacillus
Pseudomonas pseudomallei, an organism that resides in dust and soil. Pneumonia due to melioidosis occurs mainly in the flooded fields of southeast Asia. The disease may be acute with fulminating septicaemia and prostation, rapidly fatal or
subacute with fever, chest pain and occasional haemoptysis. Chest radiography shows ill-defined bilateral small round areas of
consolidation with an affinity for the upper lobes. These opacities progressively coalesce to form segmental or lobar opacities. Cavities are frequent, whereas
pleural effusion,
empyema and
mediastinal lymphadenopathy are rare. In the
subacute form, the radiological appearance is segmental or lobar
consolidation which often cavitate, sometimes in association with
empyema.
PG