The bacterium, Burkholderia pseudomallei, was identified in the Gulf Coast region of southern Mississippi. Exposure to the bacteria can cause melioidosis, a “rare and serious disease,” according to the CDC. about one in 4,600 people exposed are found to have the disease, according to a 2019 study. The study also found that about 90,000 people die annually from melioidosis. “Once well established in the soil, B. pseudomallei cannot be removed from the soil,” the CDC wrote in its health advisory. “Public health efforts should focus primarily on improving case recognition so that appropriate treatment can be administered.” Samples show the bacteria has been in the Mississippi area since at least 2020, when a person in the Gulf Coast region was found to have melioidosis, although it’s unclear how long Burkholderia pseudomallei, also known as B. pseudomallei, has been around. was in the area. The bacteria have previously been found in tropical and subtropical climates around the world, including South and Southeast Asia, northern Australia, and parts of Central and South America. The CDC said modeling showed the southern Mississippi climate was also favorable for its growth. The environmental sampling in Mississippi was conducted after two patients in the area received melioidosis diagnoses, two years apart — one in July 2020, the other in May 2022. The unnamed people were not related, the CDC said, but lived in “close geographic proximity,” and had not recently traveled outside the United States. Genomic sequencing data showed that both people were infected by the same new strain from the Western Hemisphere, officials said. Both patients were hospitalized and recovered after antibiotic treatment. Last month, the Mississippi Department of Health and the CDC collected environmental samples of soil, water and plant matter from the patients’ properties, household products and nearby areas they frequented. The bacteria can infect animals and humans through direct contact or through cuts and wounds. The risk of person-to-person transmission is low, officials said. Symptoms usually appear one day to three weeks after exposure. Most cases of melioidosis occur outside the United States, the CDC said. But last year, four people in four different states contracted meliodosis after using contaminated aromatherapy spray sold at Walmart. Two of the four people died, officials said. Symptoms of melioidosis are nonspecific and vary from person to person, the CDC said, but symptoms include fever, localized pain or swelling, chest pain, and headaches. People with diabetes, excessive alcohol use, chronic lung disease, chronic kidney disease, and immunosuppressed conditions are more susceptible to the bacteria. Officials said quick diagnosis and antibiotics were crucial. B. pseudomallei isn’t the only thing in the soil that can also cause disease. Valley fever, also called coccidioidomycosis, is an infection caused by a fungus that lives in the soil in the southwestern United States and parts of Mexico and Central and South America. It is contracted by breathing in the microscopic fungal spores from the air, although most people who breathe in the spores do not get sick, the CDC said. In 2019, about 20,000 cases were reported to the agency, most from people living in Arizona or California.
