1 The incidence of clinical melioidosis is strongly associated with the degree of exposure to the organism. 1 Bangladesh has large areas of rice paddy fields, a tropical climate and heavy monsoon rains for around 6 months each year with frequent and severe flooding.

There have been a few case reports of melioidosis in patients from Bangladesh visiting or staying in other countries. 2 and 3 The extent of exposure to B. pseudomallei and the incidence of clinical melioidosis in Bangladesh are unknown. There is a lack of confirmatory diagnostic facilities and a low index of suspicion among clinicians. Therefore, a hospital-based seroprevalence study was conducted to quantify exposure to B. pseudomallei in unselected patients from across Bangladesh. Patients were recruited between selleck chemical June and August 2010 at Chittagong Medical College, Dhaka Medical College, Sir Salimullah Medical College (Dhaka),

Comilla Medical College, Bogra Medical College and Sylhet Medical College hospitals in Bangladesh. These are government tertiary-care hospitals with very large catchment areas covering five of the seven Divisions of Bangladesh. Entry criteria were patients of all ages and both genders presenting to hospital, providing written informed consent and having a blood test for another purpose from which remaining serum or plasma would be available for the study. Age, gender, area of residence and occupation were recorded. Antibody levels to B. pseudomallei were quantified using the INCB024360 indirect haemagglutination assay (IHA). The methodology for this has been described in detail elsewhere. 4 This study used standard pooled antigens that were separately prepared from two B. pseudomallei isolates from Thai melioidosis patients (strains 199a and 207a). The cut-off for low seropositivity was an antibody titre of ≥1:10 and for high seropositivity was ≥1:160. 5 Statistical analysis was done using STATA 11/SE (StataCorp LP, College Station, TX, USA). Univariate group comparisons were PKC inhibitor performed using χ2 and

Fisher’s exact tests. Associations of antibody titre with age were determined using linear regression by the least squares method. Statistical significance was set at the 5% level. Of 1250 patients enrolled in the study, 6 patients were excluded due to inadequate specimens for analysis. The median age of patients was 40 years (range 1–104 years), of which 64 (5.1%) were <16 years old and 7 (0.6%) were <5 years old. Moreover, 682 (54.8%) of the 1244 patients were male. The commonest occupations were housewife (37.5%), farmer (15.4%) and service industry worker (15.2%); 56% were from rural areas. Of 1244 patients, 359 (28.9%) were seropositive for B. pseudomallei (titre ≥1:10) and 43 (3.5%) had high-titre seropositivity (≥1:160).