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Bacterium Leading to Deadly Infections Unprecedentedly Found in US Soil, Water

Bacterium Leading to Deadly Infections Unprecedentedly Found in US Soil, Water
folder_openUnited States access_timeone year ago
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By Staff, Agencies

A potentially deadly type of bacterium previously found only in parts of Southern Asia, Africa or Australia has been detected for the first time in soil and water samples in the US, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday.

The bacterium, Burkholderia pseudomallei, can cause an illness called melioidosis, which has proven fatal in half of cases worldwide.

About a dozen cases are discovered every year in the US, usually among people who had traveled overseas.

On Wednesday, however, the CDC announced that the bacterium had been found in soil and water samples along the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, and it issued a health alert to physicians nationwide to be on the lookout for symptoms of melioidosis, which can be vague, including cough, fever and chest pain. In more severe cases, the illness can lead to disorientation, pneumonialike illness and seizures.

"It is unclear how long the bacterium has been in the environment and where else it might be found in the US," the CDC said in a statement.

The discovery of the bacterium in US soil comes after two people who were not related but lived near each other in Mississippi became sick with melioidosis — one in 2020 and the other in 2022.

According to the CDC's health alert for doctors, both patients were hospitalized with sepsis after they developed pneumonia. Both were given antibiotics and recovered.

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