Direk Limmathurotsakul

Mahidol University | MU · Department of Tropical Hygiene

Background: Melioidosis is a frequently fatal disease caused by an environmental bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei . The disease is prevalent in northeast Thailand, particularly among rice field farmers who are at risk of bacterial exposure through contact with contaminated soil and water. However, not all exposure results in disease, and infecti...

Reliable tools to inform outpatient management of childhood pneumonia in resource-limited settings are needed. We investigated the value added by biomarkers of the host infection response to the performance of the Liverpool quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score (LqSOFA), for triage of children presenting with pneumonia to a primary care c...

Background In low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), hospitals can rarely utilize their own antimicrobial resistance (AMR) data in a timely manner. Objectives To evaluate the utility of local AMR data generated by an automated tool in the real-world setting. Methods From 16 December 2022 to 10 January 2023, on behalf of the Health Administrati...

Introduction Melioidosis is an often-fatal tropical infectious disease caused by the Gram-negative bacillus Burkholderia pseudomallei , but few studies have identified promising biomarker candidates to predict outcome. Methods In 78 prospectively enrolled patients hospitalized with melioidosis, six candidate protein biomarkers, identified from the...

Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic was a major public health threat and posed tremendous pressure to develop a cure for it. Apart from ongoing efforts in developing vaccines, a lot of empirical treatments were recommended, that may have expedited the use of antimicrobials. The main objective of this study was to explore if and how the pandemic pose...

Non-academic partners can be vital in successful public engagement activities on antimicrobial resistance. With collaboration between academic and non-academic partners, we developed and launched an open-access web-based application, the 'antibiotic footprint calculator', in both Thai and English. The application focused on a good user experience,...

There are few studies comparing proportion, frequency, mortality and mortality rate of antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) bacterial infections between tertiary-care hospitals (TCHs) and secondary-care hospitals (SCHs) in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) to inform infection control strategies. We evaluated bloodstream infections (BSIs) from 2012 t...

Background Reliable tools to inform outpatient management of childhood pneumonia in resource-limited settings are needed. We investigated the value added by biomarkers of host infection response to the performance of the Liverpool quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score (LqSOFA), for triage of children presenting with pneumonia to a primary...

Background Accurate and reliable guidelines for referral of children from resource-limited primary care settings are lacking. We identified three practicable paediatric severity scores (Liverpool quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment [LqSOFA], quick Pediatric Logistic Organ Dysfunction-2 [qPELOD-2], and the modified Systemic Inflammatory Respon...

Strategic and standardised approaches to analysis and reporting of surveillance data are essential to inform antimicrobial resistance (AMR) mitigation measures, including antibiotic policies. Targeted guidance on linking full-scale AMR and antimicrobial consumption (AMC)/antimicrobial residues (AR) surveillance data from the human, animal, and envi...

Background: Good hand hygiene compliance amongst healthcare workers is critical for patient safety and plays a central role in preventing healthcare-associated infections. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a multimodal strategy to improve healthcare worker hand hygiene. We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of this strategy in a middl...

Background Blood culture (BC) sampling is recommended for all suspected sepsis patients prior to antibiotic administration. Here, we aimed to identify barriers and enablers to BC sampling in three Southeast Asian countries. Methods We conducted a systematic review of studies evaluating barriers/enablers to BC sampling from 1900 to 2020 globally (PR...

Introduction Antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) is an important strategy to control antimicrobial resistance. Resources are available to provide guidance for design and implementation of AMS programmes, however these may have limited applicability in resource-limited settings including those in Asia. This scoping review aims to identify context-specif...

Background Simple, bedside prediction of infection-related mortality in low-resource settings is crucial for triage and resource-utilisation decisions. We aimed to evaluate mortality prediction by combining point-of-care venous lactate with the quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (qSOFA) score in adult patients admitted to hospital with suspe...

Introduction. Rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) that can facilitate the diagnosis of a panel of tropical infectious diseases are critically needed. DPP® Fever Panel II Asia is a multiplex lateral flow immunoassay comprising antigen and IgM panels for the diagnosis of pathogens that commonly cause febrile illness in Southeast Asia. Hypothesis/Gap Statem...

The burden of antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) infections in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) is largely unknown. Here, we evaluate attributable mortality of AMR infections in Indonesia. We used routine databases of the microbiology laboratory and hospital admission at Dr. Wahidin Sudirohusodo Hospital, a tertiary-care hospital in South Sulawes...

Background Quantitating the excess mortality attributable to antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) bacterial infections is important for assessing the potential benefit of preventive interventions and for prioritization of resources. However, there are few data from low and middle-income countries (LMICs). Methods We conducted a two-year prospective surve...

Background: There is a paucity of data regarding blood culture utilization and antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) infections in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). In addition, there has been a concern for increasing AMR infections among COVID-19 cases in LMICs. Here, we investigated epidemiology of AMR bloodstream infections (BSI) before and duri...

Background: The use of antimicrobials in Thailand has been reported as one of the highest in the world in both the human and animal sectors. The objectives of this project are: (1) to improve understanding of the issue of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) among adult Thai communities and (2) to drive change through the national AMR policy to include c...

Burkholderia pseudomallei is a soil-dwelling bacterium endemic to Southeast Asia and northern Australia that causes the disease, melioidosis. Although the global genomic diversity of clinical B . pseudomallei isolates has been investigated, there is limited understanding of its genomic diversity across small geographic scales, especially in soil. I...

Melioidosis is a tropical infection caused by the soil bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei. Despite the substantial impact of this often overlooked pathogen on both the health-care systems and economies of numerous low-income and middle-income countries around the world, melioidosis is not officially classified as a neglected tropical disease (NTD)...

Background: Despite the rapid spread of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) producing-Enterobacterales (ESBL-E) and carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales (CPE), little is known about the extent of their prevalence in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS). In this systematic review, we aimed to determine the epidemiology of ESBL-E and CPE in cli...

Background: Melioidosis, an infectious disease caused by Burkholderia pseudomallei, is endemic in many tropical developing countries and has a high mortality. Here we evaluated combinations of a lateral flow immunoassay (LFI) detecting B. pseudomallei capsular polysaccharide (CPS) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) detecting antibodies...

The soil bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei is the causative agent of melioidosis and a significant cause of human morbidity and mortality in many tropical and sub-tropical countries. The species notoriously survives harsh environmental conditions but the genetic architecture for these adaptations remains unclear. Here we employed a powerful combi...

Background Community acquired bacteremia (CAB) is a common cause of sepsis in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). However, knowledge about factors associated with outcomes of CAB in LMICs is limited. Methodology/Principal findings A prospective observational study (Ubon-sepsis) of adults admitted to a referral hospital with community-acquired...

Background: The use of antimicrobials in Thailand has been reported as one of the highest in the world in both the human and animal sectors. The objectives of this project are: (1) to improve understanding of the issue of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) among adult Thai communities and (2) to drive change through the national AMR policy to include c...

Background Burkholderia pseudomallei is the bacterial causative agent of melioidosis, a difficult disease to diagnose clinically with high mortality if not appropriately treated. Definitive diagnosis requires isolation and identification of the organism. With the increased adoption of MALDI-TOF MS for the identification of bacteria, we established...

Background Melioidosis, an often-fatal infectious disease caused by the environmental Gram-negative bacillus Burkholderia pseudomallei, is endemic in tropical countries. Diabetes mellitus and environmental exposure are important risk factors for melioidosis acquisition. We aim to evaluate the effectiveness of a multifaceted prevention programme for...

Background Routine microbiology results are a valuable source of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance data in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) as well as in high-income countries. Different approaches and strategies are used to generate AMR surveillance data. Objectives We aimed to review strategies for AMR surveillance using routin...

Delays in treating bacteremias with antibiotics to which the causative organism is susceptible are expected to adversely affect patient outcomes. Quantifying the impact of such delays to concordant treatment is important for decision-making about interventions to reduce the delays and for quantifying the burden of disease due to antimicrobial resis...

Background: Communicating about antimicrobial resistance (AMR) to the public is challenging. Methods: We developed a dictionary of terms commonly used to communicate about AMR. For each term, we developed learning points to explain AMR and related concepts in plain language. We conducted a pilot evaluation in 374 high school students in Ubon Ratcha...

Introduction Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is the most common nosocomial infection in intensive care units (ICUs). Using short-course antibiotics to treat VAP caused by Gram-negative non-fermenting bacteria has been reported to be associated with excess pneumonia recurrences. The “REducinG Antibiotic tReatment Duration for Ventilator-Associ...

Melioidosis is a life-threatening infectious disease caused by the gram-negative bacillus Burkholderia pseudomallei. An effective vaccine is needed, but data on protective immune responses in human melioidosis are lacking. We used ELISA and an antibody-dependent cellular phagocytosis assay to identify the major features of protective antibodies in...

Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of a Sepsis Fast Track (SFT) programme initiated at a regional referral hospital in Thailand in January 2015. Design A retrospective analysis using the data of a prospective observational study (Ubon-sepsis) from March 2013 to January 2017. Setting General medical wards and medical intensive care units (ICU...

Background Melioidosis, an often-fatal infectious disease caused by the environmental Gram-negative bacillus Burkholderia pseudomallei , is endemic in tropical countries. Diabetes mellitus and environmental exposure are important risk factors for melioidosis acquisition. We aim to evaluate the effectiveness of a multifaceted prevention programme fo...

Objectives The magnitude of impact caused by low blood culture utilization on estimates of the proportions and incidence rates of antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) bacterial infections is largely unknown. Methods We used routine electronic databases of microbiology, hospital admission and drug prescription at Sunpasitthiprasong Hospital, Ubon Ratchath...

The scope and trajectory of today’s escalating antimicrobial resistance (AMR) crisis is inadequately captured by existing surveillance systems, particularly those of lower income settings. AMR surveillance systems typically collate data from routine culture and susceptibility testing performed in diagnostic bacteriology laboratories to support heal...

Background: A quantitative understanding of the impact of delays to concordant antibiotic treatment on patient mortality is important for designing hospital antibiotic policies. Acinetobacter spp are among the most prevalent pathogens causing multidrug-resistant hospital-acquired infections in developing countries. We aimed to determine the causal...

Background The soil bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei is the causative agent of melioidosis. It kills up to 40% of cases and contributes to human morbidity and mortality in many tropical and sub-tropical countries. As no vaccines are currently available, prevention is the key health policy and is achieved by avoiding direct contact with soil and...

Melioidosis is an often-severe tropical infection caused by Burkholderia pseudomallei (Bp) with high associated morbidity and mortality. Burkholderia thailandensis (Bt) is a closely related surrogate that does not require BSL-3 conditions. Lactoferrin is an iron-binding glycoprotein that can modulate the innate inflammatory response. Here we invest...

Melioidosis is a neglected tropical disease with high mortality rate. It is caused by the Gram-negative, CDC category B select agent Burkholderia pseudomallei (B. ps) that is intrinsically resistant to first-line antibiotics. An antibody-based vaccine is likely to be the most effective control measure. Previous studies have demonstrated significant...

Background: Treatment of melioidosis comprises intravenous drugs for at least 10 days, followed by oral trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) for 12 to 20 weeks. Twelve weeks of oral TMP-SMX is recommended in Australia, and 20 weeks in Thailand. Methods: For this open-label, pragmatic, multicenter, non-inferiority, randomized controlled trial,...

Background: Few studies of biomarkers as predictors of outcome in infection have been performed in tropical, low- and middle-income countries where the burden of sepsis is highest. We evaluated whether selected biomarkers could predict 28-day mortality in infected patients in rural Thailand. Methods: Four thousand nine hundred eighty-nine adult...

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a serious global health threat and is predicted to cause significant health and economic impacts, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). AMR surveillance is critical in LMICs due to high burden of bacterial infections; however, conducting AMR surveillance in resource-limited settings is constrain...

Serial passage is a problem among many bacterial species, especially those where strains have been stored (banked) for several decades. Prior to banking with an organization such as ATCC, many bacterial strains were passaged for many years, so the characteristics of each strain may be extremely different. This is in addition to any differences in t...

Background Therapeutic options for multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter spp. are limited, and resistance to last resort antibiotics in hospitals is increasing globally. Quantifying the impact of delays in concordant antibiotic treatment on patient mortality is important for designing hospital antibiotic policies. Methods We included patients with Acin...

BACKGROUND Reporting cumulative antimicrobial susceptibility testing data on a regular basis is crucial to inform antimicrobial resistance (AMR) action plans at local, national and global levels. However, analysing data and generating a report are time-consuming and often require trained personnel. We illustrate the development and utility of an of...

Background Reporting cumulative antimicrobial susceptibility testing data on a regular basis is crucial to inform antimicrobial resistance (AMR) action plans at local, national, and global levels. However, analyzing data and generating a report are time consuming and often require trained personnel. Objective This study aimed to develop and test a...

Background: Reporting cumulative antimicrobial susceptibility testing data on a regular basis is crucial to inform antimicrobial resistance (AMR) action plans at local, national and global levels. However, analysing data and generating a report are time-consuming and often require trained personnel. We illustrate the development and utility of an o...

Burkholderia pseudomallei and pathogenic Leptospira in contaminated drinking water can cause melioidosis and leptospirosis, respectively. Here, we evaluated their survival in beverages. We mixed six isolates (three isolates per organism) in four beverages (Coca-Cola®, Red Bull®, Singha® beer, and Gatorade®) and distilled water as the control at two...

Melioidosis is a neglected tropical disease with an estimated annual mortality rate of 89,000 in 45 countries across tropical regions. The causative agent is Burkholderia pseudomallei, a gram-negative soil-dwelling bacterium. In Thailand, B. pseudomallei can be found across multiple regions, along with the low-virulence B. thailandensis and the rec...

Background: Melioidosis, infection caused by the bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei, is a common cause of sepsis with high associated mortality in Southeast Asia. Identification of patients at high-likelihood of clinical deterioration is important for guiding decisions about resource allocation and management. We sought to develop a biomarker-bas...

In 2013, a Lancet Infectious Diseases Commission described the state of antimicrobial resistance worldwide. Since then, greater awareness of the public health ramifications of antimicrobial resistance has led to national actions and global initiatives, including a resolution at the high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly in 2016. Progress in...

Background: The burden of sepsis is highest in low- and middle-income countries, though the management of sepsis in these settings is poorly characterized. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess the early management of sepsis in Thailand. Methods: Pre-planned analysis of the Ubon-sepsis study, a single-center prospective cohort stu...

Abstract The Asia Pacific region, home to two-thirds of the world’s population and ten of the least developed countries, is considered a regional hot-spot for the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Despite this, there is a dearth of high-quality regional data on the extent of AMR. Recognising the urgency to close this gap, Sing...