Burkholderia cepacia

Hello, everyone. My name is Dr. Sarah Fouch, and welcome to this short recording, where we will be considering Burkholderia cepacia, the clinical conditions that this organism is associated with, and the patient demographic most at risk of infections caused by Burkholderia cepacia. We'll also think about the virulence factors that it can produce to cause such significant symptoms.

Burkholderia cepacia is a gram-negative bacillus and this is an organism that we refer to as ubiquitous, meaning that it can be found everywhere. This organism was previously named Pseudomonas cepacia. However, in 1992, DNA studies identified sufficient differences to the Pseudomonas species, and it was renamed as Burkholderia cepacia. The reason why it was named Burkholderia cepacia is because it was named after Walter Burkholder, who first described the organism in 1949. Now you may have heard of a group of organisms called Burkholderia cepacia complex. This is a group of more than 20 aerobic gram-negative bacilli. Aerobic means they can only survive in the presence of oxygen. Examples of the organisms included within the Burkholderia cepacia complex include: Burkholderia cepacia, Burkholderia stabilis. This is associated with contaminated substances. Ultrasound gel is a really good example here. It's also associated with medical devices. We also have Burkholderia vietnamiensis associated with soil and water. It's also an opportunistic pathogen that can cause infections within cystic fibrosis patients. We have Burkholderia cenocepacia. Again, it's associated with soil and water. Again, it can cause opportunistic infections within the healthcare setting. However, this can be avoided if we have sufficient infection control. We also have Burkholderia multivorans. Again, associated with soil and water, and can cause opportunistic respiratory disease in cystic fibrosis patients. Now the prevalence of organisms associated with the Burkholderia cepacia complex varies depending on their geographical location. We tend to see more Burkholderia cenocepacia being isolated in North America, more cases of multivorans in Europe, and more cases of cepacia within the Portugal area. Now, one thing you may have noticed as I talked about the different organisms that fit within the Burkholderia cepacia complex is that they all have one thing in common that they are opportunistic pathogens. Any patient must be susceptible to infections. The two patient demographics that are most at risk of Burkholderia cepacia infections are cystic fibrosis patients, and we'll talk a little bit more about this in the coming slides, and also immunocompromised patients, so those patients who have depleted immune systems.