Imported pulmonary melioidosis in québec, canada

Abstract

Melioidosis, a ‘‘great mimicker,’’ is a potentially severe and fatal illness. In this paper we present a Québec case of imported pulmonary melioidosis in a young patient who failed to demonstrate any of the risk factors traditionally associated with progression to clinical disease. Although reported cases of imported disease in Canada are exceedingly rare, a surge of cases in the Caribbean and sporadic autochthonous cases in the United States increase the likelihood that we will encounter more cases in Canada.