CDC investigating four cases of rare bacterial infection

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has since March investigated four cases of melioidosis, a bacterial infection rare in the United States, including two deaths. Whole genome sequencing at CDC shows the bacterial strains that sickened the children and adults — one each in Georgia, Kansas, Texas and Minnesota — closely match each other, suggesting a common source. The strains appear most closely related to ones found in Asia, though none of the patients had traveled internationally. CDC currently believes the most likely cause is an imported product (such as a food or drink, personal care or cleaning products or medicine) or an ingredient in one of those types of products. The agency advises clinicians to consider melioidosis in patients with a compatible illness, even if they have not traveled to a country where the disease is endemic; and to contact their local health department if they suspect a patient may be infected with the Burkholderia pseudomallei bacteria that causes the disease.