In the United States, health authorities announced Wednesday that they had taken a bacterium that causes a rare but serious disease from three samples of water and soil in the state of Mississippi. tested positive for the bacteria Burkholderia pseudomallei, which can cause melioidosis. This is the first detection of this bacteria in the environment in the United States.
“It is unclear exactly how long the bacteria has been present in the environment, or how widespread it is in the continental United States,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said, in statements reported by CNN.
What is melioidosis?
Infections with this bacteria can lead to a life-threatening condition called melioidosis. It is usually found in tropical regions such as South Asia, where it is endemic, or sometimes in Australia or Africa. According to the CDC, twelve cases of melioidosis are diagnosed in the United States each year, primarily in people who have traveled to these countries or via products from these countries.
Melioidosis is a serious orphan disease with a high mortality rate for acute forms. Symptoms can range from fever, headache, muscle and joint pain, vomiting or diarrhoea. Melioidosis can cause respiratory failure, skin lesions and abscesses, and blood infections.
Some forms can resemble tuberculosis. Worldwide, melioidosis is fatal in 10-50% of cases. Its particularity is in particular that its incubation period varies between two days and several years after contamination, which occurs through the skin, air or digestive route.
Locally endemic in some areas of Mississippi
Health authorities have asked health care providers across the country to consider melioidosis as a possible diagnosis when people have symptoms.
“Melioidosis is now considered locally endemic in areas of the Mississippi Gulf Coast region,” the CDC even announced.
A situation far from being surprising for certain specialists. “We live in a subtropical climate here in the United States, along the Gulf Coast, where it’s hot and humid. It’s an environment conducive to Burkholderia pseudomalleiDr. Jill Weatherhead, an assistant professor of tropical medicine and infectious diseases at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, explains to NBCNews.
“Very low” risk for the population
However, the CDC considers the risk to the population to remain “very low,” particularly since there are few documented cases of person-to-person transmission. On the other hand, it is recommended for frail people living in or going to Mississippi to protect their wounds and avoid any contact with water or land.
The last discovery of this disease in the United States in people not returning from international travel occurred in 2020 and 2022 in two people who did not live in close proximity to each other, but had the same bacterial strain, in southern Mississippi . The patients were hospitalized but recovered with antibiotics.
Source: BFM TV
