Rare tropical disease kills 2 people in the United States The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched an investigation

Source: China News Network

According to the US Chinese Network, a few days ago, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued an alarm for a rare disease, melioidosis. The disease is common in the tropics, most commonly in South Asia and northern Australia, but now it has been found in Georgia, Kansas, Texas and Minnesota, where 4 people have been infected, 2 of whom have died.

According to reports, what makes experts more confused is that none of these 4 patients have been out of the country before the onset of the disease. The CDC said the "most likely route to infection in these patients is an imported product (such as food or beverage, personal care or cleaning products or medicines), or an ingredient in such product."

Investigators have taken more than 100 samples of products in each case's home and surrounding water quality and soil in an attempt to uncover a link between the four cases, but so far, nothing has been harvested. However, the CDC said that sequencing the genomes of the bacteria infected by the four patients showed that the four cases may have some correlation.

About a dozen cases of rhino-like gangrene are reported in the United States each year, almost all of which can be attributed to international travel. This is the first time health experts have identified the disease, which appears to have originated in the United States.

According to information provided to doctors by the CDC, rhinodermoids are caused by Burkholderia pseudomallei, which does not develop until weeks after exposure to the pathogen. Symptoms include cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, intermittent fever, etc.

The CDC warns that diabetes, liver and kidney disease, chronic lung disease, cancer, or other diseases that weaken the immune system are all risk factors that exacerbate the symptoms of the disease. CdC also urges doctors to be aware of symptoms of rhinoderma, regardless of where patients are or whether they have traveled abroad.