Melioidosis is a neglected tropical disease, and a major infectious killer in South East Asia. Melioidosis particularly affects people with diabetes. Dr Susanna Dunachie works on tropical diseases such as melioidosis, scrub typhus and vivax malaria. Melioidosis is a bacterial disease that results in pneumonia, liver and splenic abscesses and septic shock. The disease can reactivate after a latent period and is inherently resistant to many standard antibiotics. People continue to die around the world from this infection for which there is no vaccine. Understanding the disease is therefore crucial.