ABSTRACT
Introduction Until the early 1980s Burkholderia cepacia was a little-known phytopathogen, first identified in 1950 as the cause of onion rot 111 (Fig. 8.1). Its inherent resistance to many antimicrobial agents and ability to grow in a variety of environments, including distilled water and disinfectants, have allowed it to flourish in the nosocomial setting 121. It can cause a variety of infections, particularly bacteraemia and pneumonia, in immunocompromised patients and patients in the intensive care unit. However, it
Fig. 8.1 B. cepacia causes an onion rot known as slippery skin (1) . The onions shown were inoculated with three strains of B. cepacia . Rot occurred in onion 1 (left), which was inoculated with a strain originally isolated from onions. Rot did not occur with environmental isolates tested or with strains from CF lung. Reproduced from Holmes eta/. 1111.
