Melioidosis is an endemic disease caused by the bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei. Concerns exist regarding B. pseudomallei use as a potential bio-threat agent causing
persistent infections and typically manifesting as severe
pneumonia capable of causing fatal
bacteremia. Development of suitable
therapeutics against
melioidosis is complicated due to high degree of genetic and phenotypic variability among B. pseudomallei isolates and lack of data establishing commonly accepted strains for comparative studies. Further, the impact of strain variation on virulence, disease presentation, and mortality is not well understood. Therefore, this study evaluate and compare the virulence and
disease progression of B. pseudomallei strains K96243 and HBPUB10303a, following
aerosol challenge in a standardized BALB/c mouse model of
infection. The natural history analysis of
disease progression monitored conditions such as
weight, body temperature, appearance, activity,
bacteremia, organ and tissue colonization (pathological and histological analysis) and immunological responses. This study provides a detailed, direct comparison of
infection with different B. pseudomallei strains and set up the basis for a standardized model useful to test different medical countermeasures against Burkholderia species. Further, this protocol serves as a guideline to standardize other bacterial
aerosol models of
infection or to define
biomarkers of infectious processes caused by other intracellular pathogens.