Melioidosis: Serologic Studies on U.S. Army Personnel Returning from Southeast Asia

Military personnel returning from Vietnam were evaluated serologically for melioidosis, using the hemagglutination test (HA). A total of 500 serum samples were studied. Titers greater than or equal to 1:80, observed when test erythrocytes were sensitized with polysaccharide antigen extracted from Pseudomonas pseudomallei, were recorded as diagnostic. In the wounded patient group, six (three per cent) had diagnostic titers. One serum specimen from the medically-ill group and one from the US control group had diagnostic titers. Antibody activity in all positive serum samples (i.e. diagnostic titer) was mercapto-ethanol (2-ME) resistant. The primary and the secondary immune responses of rabbits immunized with killed P. pseudomallei cells were serologically evaluated with the hemagglutination test; appropriate erythrocyte suspensions were sensitized with polysaccharide or protein component extracted from peudomallei cells. Results of this study are discussed. Availability: Pub. in Military Medicine, v136 n8 p694-698 Aug 1971.