ˌmelēˌȯiˈdōsə̇s noun
( plural melioido·ses -ōˌsēz)
Etymology: New Latin, from Greek melis, a disease of equines, probably glanders + International Scientific Vocabulary -oid + New Latin -osis
: a highly fatal bacterial disease closely related to glanders that occurs naturally in rodents of southeastern Asia but is readily transmitted to other mammals and man by the rat flea or under certain conditions by dissemination of the causative bacterium ( Pseudomonas pseudomallei ) in air