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.