Burkholderia mallei

MICROBIOLOGY

• Facultative, aerobic, nonmotile, slender, intracellular, Gram-negative rod thrives intracellularly by modulating host immune-signaling pathways.[3][6]
  • B. mallei is the agent of glanders, a disease of solipeds: horses, donkeys, and mules.[18]
• If suspected, notify lab personnel
  • B. mallei is highly infectious as an aerosol.
  • Classified as a Tier 1 biological select agent, https://www.selectagents.gov, accessed 6/3/23.
    • The Federal Select Agent Program lists excluded attenuated strains with potential for vaccine development.
• Sometimes erroneously identified as Pseudomonas sp. by standard microbiologic testing, B. mallei is morphologically indistinguishable from B. pseudomallei.
• Hard to see on Gram stain. It grows slowly, best with glycerol [Fig 1].