Contamination of hand wash detergent linked to occupationally acquired melioidosis

Two mechanics working at a garage in tropical northern Australia simultaneously developed upper limb melioidosis ulcers. Both patients had Burkholderia pseudomallei of identical pulsed-field get electrophoresis (PFGE) type (Spe I). Environmental sampling identified B. pseudomallei in a container of commercial hand wash detergent as the likely source of infection, although there were multiple isolates of different PFGE types to the clinical isolates.