Even after 100 years of the discovery of the disease Melioidosis in Rangoon, Burma (Yangon, Myanmar) in 1911 by the pathologist Alfred Whitmore and his Indian assistant C. S. Krishnaswami. ​

Melioidosis, caused by the environmental Gram-negative bacillus Burkholderia pseudomallei, is classically characterized by pneumonia, septicemia and multiple abscesses, with a mortality rate of up to 40%. The disease is regarded as endemic to Southeast Asia and northern Australia, corresponding approximately to the tropical latitudes between 20°N and 20°S. Many facts about Melioidosis are known, but many more are still unknown. Thanks to worries about bioterror, the disease is being taken more seriously now. Sporadic cases have been reported from disparate regions of India and its neighbouring countries like Srilanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan as well as from other countries in the South East Asia like Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, PDR Laos and Singapore. However, the diagnosis has been largely restricted to a few large medical centers in these countries, presumably where laboratory facilities exist.