BACKGROUND Melioidosis is a tropical infectious disease which is being increasingly recognised throughout the globe. Infection occurs in humans and animals, typically through direct exposure to soil or water containing the environmental bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei. Case clusters of melioidosis have been described in humans following severe weather events and in exotic animals imported into melioidosis endemic zones. Direct transmission of B. pseudomallei between animals and/or humans has been documented but is considered extremely rare. Between March 2015 and October 2016 eight fatal cases of melioidosis were reported in slender-tailed meerkats (Suricata suricatta) on display at a Wildlife Park in Northern Australia. To further investigate the melioidosis case cluster we sampled the meerkat enclosure and adjacent park areas and performed whole-genome sequencing (WGS) on all culture-positive B. pseudomallei environmental and clinical isolates. RESULTS WGS confirmed that the fatalities were caused by two different B. pseudomallei sequence types (STs) but that seven of the meerkat isolates were highly similar on the whole-genome level. Used concurrently with detailed pathology data, our results demonstrate that the seven cases originated from a single original source, but routes of infection varied amongst meerkats belonging to the clonal outbreak cluster. Moreover, in some instances direct transmission may have transpired through wounds inflicted while fighting. CONCLUSIONS Collectively, this study supports the use of high-resolution WGS to enhance epidemiological investigations into transmission modalities and pathogenesis of melioidosis, especially in the instance of a possible clonal outbreak scenario in exotic zoological collections. Such findings from an animal outbreak have important One Health implications.

中文翻译：

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圈养的长尾猫鼬（Suricata suricatta）中的类蜜蜂病死亡：结合流行病学，病理学和全基因组测序可支持多种传播机制，对健康有一定影响。

背景技术类胡oid病是一种热带传染病，在全球范围内被越来越多地认识到。感染通常在人和动物中发生，通常是直接暴露于含有环境细菌假苹果伯克霍尔德菌的土壤或水中。已经描述了人类在严重天气事件之后以及在输入到类胡oid病流行区的外来动物中描述的类胡li病病例群。在动物和/或人类之间直接传播假疟原虫，但被认为极为罕见。在2015年3月至2016年10月之间，在澳大利亚北部的野生动物公园展出的长尾猫鼬（Suricata suricatta）中报告了8例致命的类腮腺炎病例。为了进一步调查类腮腺炎病例群，我们对猫鼬围栏和邻近的公园区域进行了采样，并对所有培养阳性的假双歧杆菌环境和临床分离株进行了全基因组测序（WGS）。结果WGS证实死亡是由两种不同的假芽孢杆菌序列类型（STs）引起的，但在全基因组水平上有7种猫鼬分离株高度相似。与详细的病理数据同时使用，我们的结果表明这7例病例均来自单一原始来源，但感染途径在属于克隆性暴发群的猫鼬中有所不同。而且，在某些情况下，直接传播可能是由于战斗中所造成的伤口而发生的。结论集体而言，这项研究支持高分辨率WGS的使用，以加强对类蠕虫病传播方式和发病机理的流行病学调查，尤其是在外来动物学收藏中可能出现克隆性暴发的情况下。动物爆发的这些发现对“一生”具有重要意义。