Melioidosis was recognized within Australia from an outbreak in sheep, 1949 in Winton, northern Queensland (Dance, 1991). In the Top End of the Northern Territory, the annual incidence was 16.5 per 100,000 between 1989 and 1999 (Currie et al., 2000) and after ten years, the incidence increased to 41.7 per 100,000 as there was high annual rainfall (Currie et al., 2004). The infection is rare in the Port Moresby region (Currie, 1993) and it is the emerging disease in Western Province (Warner et al., 1998).

The disease is also prevalent in Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Indochina and Indonesia (Dance, 1991) and some authors consider that China and Korea is melioidosis endemic areas (Howe et al.,1971). Although melioidosis is mostly endemic in the tropical region, occasional cases have arisen in subtropical and even temperate climates.

In 1991, the incidence of melioidosis was reported in India and till 2009, 92 patients from the Indian states like Maharastra, Kerala, Orissa, Tripura, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Assam (Bharadwaj et al., 1994, Cherian et al., 1995, John et al., 1996, Raghavan et al., 1991, Saravu et al., 2010) were diagnosed with melioidosis disease.