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Melioidosis -- a bacterial infection that causes fever, pneumonia, and sepsis -- presents two enormous challenges for infectious disease experts: it kills roughly half the people who contract it and it is extremely tough to treat even in countries with advanced health care systems.

Melioidosis is caused by the bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei.

The pathogen that causes melioidosis is so virulent it was used as a biologic warfare agent in World Wars I and II. Treatment demands an expensive, long-term IV and antibiotic regimen that is difficult to enact in southeast Asia and northern Australia where melioidosis is prevalent.

The earliest report of melioidosis in Hong Kong dates back to the mid-1970s, when 24 dolphins suddenly died of the disease in Ocean Park, a theme park.

Authorities said they died due to melioidosis, an infectious disease that can spread through contact with contaminated soil, air or water.