The 40-year-old patient resides in Krong Pac district and was admitted to a general hospital after suffering severe abdominal pain.

She was later diagnosed with a spleen abscess and was forced to undergo surgery. After later being discharged from the hospital, the patient continued to suffer from abdominal pain and was subsequently re-transferred to hospital. It was upon arrival at the medical facility that her condition started to worsen.

The woman then tested positive for melioidosis along with an underlying condition of Type 2 diabetes.

After 10 days of receiving treatment, the woman is currently in a stable health condition.

This comes after two other cases of Whitmore’s disease were discovered in Ea Sup and Cu Kuin districts.

Whitmore's disease includes symptoms such as fever, pneumonia, and abscesses, as well as inflammation of the brain and joints. It has a mortality rate of around 40%. 

There are typically around 10,000 cases detected worldwide every year, with the majority of them detected during the rainy season. There is no vaccine for the disease.

The bacteria that causes the disease lives on the surface of water and in soil, especially mud, and is then transmitted to humans through abrasions on the skin or through the respiratory tract when a person inhales dust particles or droplets in the air which contain bacteria.

Most recently, the country recorded two deaths caused by Whitmore’s disease in 2019, with four being recorded in 2020.

Source: VOV