Abstract

Burkholdreria cepacia complex refers to a group of aerobic, gram negative, non-fermenting bacilli that commonly causes opportunistic infections in patients with cystic fibrosis and chronic granulomatous disease. They thrive well in commonly used disinfectants, intra venous fluids and anti-septic solutions, thus have a tendency to cause outbreak in intensive care units and haematology wards. Sporadic cases occur very rarely and may manifest as skin & soft tissue infections, lung infections, urinary infections, peritonitis etc. Infections usually spreads very fast and it shows resistance to most of the commonly used antibiotics. Laboratory isolations is at times delayed and they are wrongly labelled as Pseudomonas species. All these factors make treatment more challenging. Here we present two cases of pyogenic infections involving head & neck region caused by Burkholderia species with two different clinical presentation in diabetic patients treated in our tertiary care institute in India.

Keywords: Burkholderia; Head & neck infections; Antibiotic resistance