CDC Investigates Latest Case of a Rare Tropical Disease in US

This image depicts a close view of a Petri dish culture plate, which had contained a growth medium of sheep blood agar (SBA), and which was inoculated with Gram-positive, Burkholderia pseudomallei bacteria, that had then been incubated for a 48 hour time period, producing the colonial growth you see here. B. pseudomallei is the causative agent of the disease known as melioidosis. (Courtesy of Larry Stauffer/Oregon State Public Health Laboratory via CDC)

NEW YORK—U.S. health officials are investigating the latest fatal case of a rare tropical disease typically found in South Asia.

The unidentified person, who died last month in Georgia, was the fourth U.S. case this year of melioidosis caused by a bacteria that lives in soil and water, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Monday.

None of the cases from Georgia, Kansas, Minnesota, or Texas traveled internationally, puzzling experts. The CDC said two died.

Federal health officials sent an alert about the latest case to doctors, asking them to consider meliodosis if they face a bacterial infection that doesn’t respond to antibiotics—even if the patient has not traveled outside of the country. The CDC said the infection is treatable if caught early and treated correctly.

Though the illnesses were found in different states at different times, the agency said lab analyses showed the infections were closely related.

By Mike Stobbe