gland-, glans-
(Latin: acorn; in medicine, gland, glans)
Used in medicine to mean "gland", an aggregation of cells, specialized to secrete or excrete materials not related to their ordinary metabolic needs. Also, "glans" is a general term for a small rounded mass, or glandlike body. The plural of "glans" is "glandes".
2. Etymology: from Greek melis, "glanders" + -oid, "like" + -osis, "diseased condition".
3. Also known as pseudoglanders; formerly called "Whitmore's disease".
An infectious illness which is most frequent in Southeast Asia (Malaysia, Indochina, and Ceylon) and Northern Australia; and is caused by a bacteria called Pseudomonas pseudomallei found in soil, rice paddies, and stagnant waters.
Humans catch the disease by inhalation of contaminated dust or when soil contaminated by the bacteria comes in contact with abraded (scraped) skin.
Melioidosis most commonly involves the lungs where the infection can form a cavity of pus (abscess).
The bacteria can also spread from the skin through the bloodstream, the brain, eyes, heart, liver, kidneys, and joints.