The unusual fact is that generally it does not cause infections in humans. Hospitals and health care providers in Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin have been asked to report all cases of Elizabethkingia and to save specimens for lab testing, and health professionals have been instructed to look for the bacterial infection in patients with immune-compromising conditions.
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Symptoms to be on the lookout for are shortness of breath, chills, fever and a skin infection called cellulitis where the skin becomes inflamed with skin sores or rashes that grow rapidly. The infection is often antibiotic resistant and therefore hard to treat.
An Illinois resident has died after a confirmed case of Elizabethkingia and according to the Illinois Department of Public Health, it’s the same strain of bacteria that’s been the cause of an ongoing, deadly outbreak in Wisconsin and MI.
What’s odd is that the bacteria is not typically found in humans – Elizabethkingia is frequently present in soil and river water. It rarely, if ever, causes infections, so much about the outbreak is still a mystery.
Gov. Scott Walker last week approved nine project positions at the health department to continue the Elizabethkingia outbreak, prepare for Zika virus and address a recent increase in tuberculosis in the state.
Elizabethkingia is a bacterial infection that has been spreading across the Midwest for several months and is possibly responsible for the death of at least 19 people, 18 in Wisconsin and one in IL.
Because Elizabethkingia are opportunistic pathogens that prey on people with weakened immune systems, health officials don’t know if the infection has actually killed anyone.
Illinois, Wisconsin, and MI have joined with the CDC to investigate the outbreak and determine the source.
Public health investigators have been interviewing patients and family members, taking environmental samples, taking samples from family members and patients in the same facilities and units as infected patients and reviewing medical records.
The bacteria got its name from the microbiologist Elizabeth King, who discovered it in 1959. Now, the first case has been confirmed in IL and has taken another life, reports CBS Chicago.
“The majority of the infections identified to date have been bloodstream infections, but some patients have had Elizabethkingia isolated from other sites, such as their respiratory systems or joints”, a statement released Tuesday from the Illinois Department of Public Health said.
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It’s unknown right now exactly how she contracted it. The bacteria can’t be transmitted from person to person.
