Scientists sound the alarm over deadly tropical disease discovered in southern US: ‘It is critical to prevent infection’
Story by Mike Taylor •
1h
A tropical disease that recently infiltrated the United States has pushed scientists to sound the alarm for health care providers to be on the lookout.
What’s happening?
The disease, called melioidosis, has been diagnosed in the U.S. before, though most of those cases were linked to traveling to tropical or subtropical areas where the bacterium that causes it was known to be present: South and Southeast Asia, northern Australia, and parts of Central and South America and Puerto Rico, Medscape and the Centers for Disease Control reported.
There has been an average of 12 U.S. cases per year.
The bacterium that causes the illness, Burkholderia pseudomallei, is now newly endemic to the southern continental U.S., as reported by Medscape and the CDC in April 2023.
Residents in Gulf Coast states should be aware that the disease may be present in their environments because “up to 9 out of every 10 people who get it die” worldwide without treatment, per the CDC, and it’s still fatal in two out of 10 with the best medical care. A January 2023 case marked the third diagnosis in Mississippi since 2020, according to Medscape and the CDC.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/scientists-sound-the-alarm-over-deadly-tropical-disease-discovered-in-southern-us-it-is-critical-to-prevent-infection/ar-AA1mr9ck?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=0dd66f4f2aab4a3d96f761193c6c9c03&ei=46
