He became one of the foremost bacteriologists in Australia. Burkholder was a member of the Society of American Bacteriologists. The same year, he helped to found the Society of American Bacteriologists. In 1901 the American Association of Pathologists and Bacteriologists (AAPB) was established. Many bacteriologists soon discovered the cause of numerous infections. The members of the unit, approximately 300 researchers, included doctors and bacteriologists. However, bacteriologists in the United States had been unsuccessful in similar experiments around this time. Bacteriologists assume that the same probably holds true for humans.