New, deadly bacteria may be lurking in US; CDC warns of three puzzling cases:
A deadly soil bacterium common in tropical and subtropical climates has mysteriously infected three people in three different US states, killing at least one, according to a health alert from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
While US cases of the infection periodically pop up in travelers, none of the three infected people have recent travel history that could easily explain how they picked up the dangerous germ. The bacteria, Burkholderia pseudomallei, usually infects by direct contact with an environmental source, i.e. contaminated soil or water. It most often attacks through breaks in the skin and it very rarely jumps from human to human. Yet genetic analyses of the bacterial strains in the latest US cases indicate that the three, geographically-separated infections are related.
The curious cluster of cases suggests there was a common source of the bacteria. Investigators speculate that a yet-unidentified imported product or animal could be a common source. For instance, iguanas and monkeys imported with infections have been linked to cases in the past. But the cluster also resurfaces concern that B. pseudomallei is no longer a mere interloper in the US, rather it may have become a permanent, low-key resident.
The distinction is not only critical for infection prevention efforts but also clinical care. Infections with B. pseudomallei cause melioidosis, which can be fatal in 10 percent to 50 percent of cases. People with diabetes, kidney disease, chronic lung disease, and alcoholism are most at risk. But the symptoms can be vague and widely variable. They include everything from localized pain, swelling, fever, ulceration, and abscesses, to coughing, chest pain, headaches, anorexia, respiratory distress, abdominal discomfort, joint pain, disorientation, weight loss, stomach or chest pain, muscle pain, joint pain, and seizures.
The symptoms are so nebulous, melioidosis is sometimes called the "Great Mimicker" because it's often mistaken for other serious conditions, such as tuberculosis. Without a travel history that may hint at an exposure to B. pseudomallei, doctors may misdiagnose it—and that can quickly turn deadly. B. pseudomallei is resistant to many antibiotic treatments. Delayed diagnosis and improper treatment can allow the infection to go systemic, which can be fatal in 90 percent of cases.
In the three new cases occurring in two adults and one child, the symptoms ranged from cough and shortness of breath, to weakness, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, intermittent fever, and rash on the trunk, abdomen, and face, the CDC said.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 05 2021, @02:39AM (2 children)
And it's a global phenomena.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 05 2021, @03:09AM
Fuck off, you shit-ass faggot.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 05 2021, @08:02AM
Wow. Get the left under control on this site or it will just die.
This site started as a site for the people. "Soylent News Is People"
If you let it become a biased site; it will just be another of the many "social media" sites on the web.
All things in life and science happens in cycles(waves.) It's ok for it to swing one way or another. BUT. If it swings too far and stays there? Well....
Yin Yang is based in many years of observations. learn it, use it, love it.
Balance in life is the answer to "Life the universe and everything"
Love you, Peace is logic and love is peace.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 05 2021, @03:16AM
None of this is happening. I'm moving to Florida Keys buh-bye nagging ninnies.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 05 2021, @05:08AM (3 children)
The USofA joined the club of third world tropical countries.
Puerto Rico should start applying more scrutiny on arrivals from mainland.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 05 2021, @05:57AM (2 children)
Rat Lung Worm (which infects your brain!) is being found much further north than usual. Just wait until the screw-worm wall fails, and the meat of your cheeks will be eaten off. Such Succulent Americans! Brains prepped by Faux News and our first host, Tucker Wormalson! Chew, chew, gnaw, gnaw, such tasty idiocy!
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 05 2021, @08:17AM (1 child)
No plague of snails or slugs in the Bible! We're safe, you heathen.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 05 2021, @06:03PM
At least you're safe from the Rat Lung Worm.
(Score: 4, Touché) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Monday July 05 2021, @07:15AM (7 children)
No, it's not caused by 5G cell towers.
No, it wasn't created in a secret lab and released onto the unsuspecting public by the deep-state to perform some nefarious experiment.
No, it doesn't implant you with tracking implants.
No, if they ever need to come up with a vaccine for it, it won't give you autism.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 05 2021, @08:29AM (2 children)
I see you left out the aliens trying to clean up the planet before they move in.
AHA!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 05 2021, @09:02AM (1 child)
Didn't you get the memo? They'll blow it up to build a hyperspace bypass.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 05 2021, @05:48PM
Using lasers from space?
(Score: 2) by shortscreen on Monday July 05 2021, @09:09AM (2 children)
You're skipping ahead. First we need to decide (based on one's political persuasion) whether to blame it on climate change or immigration ;)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 05 2021, @02:38PM (1 child)
Definitely immigration. Those nasty bacteria are coming to take our jobs!
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Monday July 05 2021, @03:03PM
Even without them as competition it was getting harder and harder in this economy to find employment as a hitman.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Tuesday July 06 2021, @02:42AM
More'n likely came in with some 3rd world street dog imported by a "rescue".
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 05 2021, @07:24AM (1 child)
I hear that Fauci might talk about this in a few weeks. Pre-emptive lockdown, so as not to irk Fauci, is the ONLY smart thing to do. If you don't do it, you're a Faucist, and we don't like anyone that is a/an ....ist around here. BE NICE DAMMIT!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 05 2021, @08:14AM
We're all in this together, you idiot. Now, stop eating slugs, dammit.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 05 2021, @09:16AM (2 children)
It seems the story here is HOW did a bacteria that seems to be of same strain infect people that are not connected. TFA talks about local causes back in 2018 and prior with hypothesis that someone was infected in Vietnam and only got sick decades later. But in general, this is a non-story outside of the diagnostic field. This type of alert should remain an alert and not some 'news' story -- CDC is looking for more cases so they could start connecting the dots. Maybe recent experience with COVID is making journalists less discriminatory when it comes to these stories though.
But I will echo the top comment from TFA here -- "I love these epidemiology mysteries a bit more once they've been solved.".
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 05 2021, @10:46AM (1 child)
They want to break news. If this turns into the next public health emergency, then this reporter and their publication gets all the credit for writing about it first. If it's a dud, then at least the reporter got one more story for their quota with a decent number of views.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 05 2021, @05:50PM
So cynical. This isn't science publishing, ya dummy.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 05 2021, @01:17PM
They claim it was iguanas or monkeys, but are they just covering up for the H1Bs again?