Agricultural Use of Burkholderia (Pseudomonas) cepacia: A Threat to Human Health?

• Main Authors: Alison H. Holmes, John Govan, Richard Goldstein
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 1998-06-01
• Series: Emerging Infectious Diseases
• Subjects: United States; United Kingdom; England; Scotland
• Online Access: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/4/2/98-0209_article

In the past 2 decades, Burkholderia cepacia has emerged as a human pathogen causing numerous outbreaks, particularly among cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. One highly transmissible strain has spread across North America and Britain, and another between hospitalized CF and non-CF patients. Meanwhile, the organism has been developed as a biopesticide for protecting crops against fungal diseases and has potential as a bioremediation agent for breaking down recalcitrant herbicides and pesticides. However, B. cepacia is inherently resistant to multiple antibiotics; selection of strains "safe" for environmental application is not at present possible phenotypically or genotypically; molecular epidemiology and phylogenetic studies demonstrate that highly transmissible strains emerge randomly; and the organism has a capacity for rapid mutation and adaptation (facilitated by numerous insertion sequences), and a large, complex genome divided into separate chromosomes. Therefore, the widespread agricultural use of B. cepacia should be approached with caution.