Known as the great mimicker, melioidosis is sometimes confused with tuberculosis or other bacterial diseases — and the stakes are high with as many as half of all cases ending in death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The infection is transmitted by the bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei, found in tropical and subtropical regions, but as environmental conditions shift, this gram-negative bacterium contaminating soil and water has now been detected elsewhere.
"We've seen three cases in the last three years in Mississippi in the same county with the same novel strain," Katherine DeBord of the CDC's National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, told Medscape.
This is the first time the bacterium has been found in the continental US, in an area of the Gulf Coast region predicted suitable for the growth of B pseudomallei by environmental modeling studies.
Washing Up on US Shores
Now, scientists are saying melioidosis is probably more widespread than the number of reported cases suggest.
The illness, also known as Whitmore's disease, has recently been recognized as a significant source of illness, with about 165,000 cases worldwide and 89,000 deaths each year around the globe.
Most cases are diagnosed in Southeast Asia and Northern Australia. And Thailand has by far the largest number of culture-confirmed cases with roughly 2500 people diagnosed each year.
