The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported three cases of serious, often fatal, bacterial infections, known to the medical community as gangrenoids. The source of these infections is unclear, and the CDC said the cases were "unusual" because none of the three victims had traveled outside the United States before developing symptoms.
Gangrenoid infections are caused by a bacterial pathogen called Candida Burkhold, which is classified as a first-degree pathogen and falls into the same category as other serious pathogens such as Ebola virus and botulinum neurotoxin.
Although these infections are common in subtropical and tropical parts of the world, they usually only appear in the United States when someone travels to areas where these infections are widespread. This makes these three cases – the first of which was reported in March – and is fatal. All of this is particularly unusual because they do not involve travel outside the United States.
Following the initial fatal cases, two other patients were reported in May, one of whom later recovered satisfactorily and could be transferred to a transitional rehabilitation facility; the other remained in intensive care units, and while his identity has not yet been disclosed, the CDC provided some basic details.
The three victims involved a man and two women, one of whom was a child. The patients also came from three more distant areas of the United States. Kansas, Texas and Minnesota. State health departments and service agencies in the three states are working with the CDC to investigate possible problems behind these cases.
Experts say genome sequencing was used to link the three cases to cases that may have come from the same source. The source of these infections may be animals or products, but cdc currently has no information to report. Unfortunately, the symptoms of this infection vary and may delay the treatment of the disease.
The CDC says symptoms of rhinoderma may include symptoms such as fever, cough, headache, lung problems, joint pain, stomach pain, chest pain, weight loss and so on. Some pre-existing conditions increase a person's probability of getting a serious or fatal outcome from an infection, with a mortality rate of 10 to 50 percent.
The CDC has provided guidance to physicians who may encounter gangrenoid infections, but has not yet provided the public with any information about prevention or sources.
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