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Abstract:
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Burkholderia pseudomallei and Burkholderia mallei cause the diseases melioidosis and glanders , respectively . These diseases are endemic mainly in southeastern Asia and northern Australia , but they also pose a bioterrorism threat in the developed world . These diseases have high mortality , partially due to the lack of vaccines and rapid , accurate diagnostic assays . The work discussed here represents a part of a larger project to develop a dependable diagnostic assay for use in both developing endemic areas and the developed world , as well as a subunit vaccine to protect against disease . In this study , several proteins from B . pseudomallei , B . mallei , and the closely related but less virulent B . thailandensis have been cloned , expressed and purified in order to develop highly sensitive and specific diagnostic reagents for the detection of B . pseudomallei and B . mallei in infected patient samples . Protein targets expressed in this study were also used in subunit vaccine development for melioidosis and glanders . |