2018/09/01 by K Mahawerawat, Kanokkarn Mahawerawat, P Kasemsiri +1 · 1 citation
Medicine · Veterinary · #Brucella: diagnosis, epidemiology, treatment #Burkholderia infections and melioidosis #Research on Leishmaniasis Studies
paper · doi:10.1017/s0022215118001391
crossref issued 2018/09/01 · crossref published 2018/09/01 · crossref published-print 2018/09/01 · openalex publication_date 2018/09/01 · crossref published-online 2018/09/05 · crossref created 2018/09/05 · crossref deposited 2019/04/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21 · crossref indexed 2026/07/31
BACKGROUND: Although melioidosis in the head and neck region is uncommon, it is a potentially life-threatening infection. Thus, early diagnosis and proper management are very important. OBJECTIVES: To report the clinical presentation and management of melioidosis in the head and neck. METHOD: A retrospective study was conducted from 1 January 2013 to 31 October 2016 in Mukdahan Hospital, Thailand. Case records of patients who had presented with culture-positive melioidosis were analysed. RESULTS: Medical records of 49 patients (23 males and 26 females) were analysed. Patients ranged in age from 1 to 75 years. Clinical presentations included 22 parotid abscesses, 16 neck abscesses and 11 suppurative lymphadenitis cases. Only 35 patients (71 per cent) had high indirect haemagglutination assay titres of ≥ 1:160 (95 per cent confidence interval = 45.35-88.28). Almost half of the patients received intravenous ceftazidime and subsequently oral co-trimoxazole. Oral antibiotic regimens were prescribed for mild localised melioidosis. Overall, 95.65 per cent of patients were in remission and no relapses were observed (95 per cent confidence interval = 85.47-98.80). CONCLUSION: Careful clinical correlation and proper investigation are required to establish an early diagnosis of melioidosis and to initiate appropriate treatment.