Health Officials Search For Clues As Deadly Bacteria Outbreak Grows

More investigators from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are in Wisconsin as a deadly outbreak of bacteria grows.

The number of Wisconsin residents infected with Elizabethkingia rose to 48 this week. Blood infections from the bacteria have been linked to 15 deaths.

“Many times, the nature of the outbreak will give us a lot of clues at the beginning and make our jobs easier,” said Michael Bell, deputy director of the CDC’s Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion. “In this case, there’s nothing straightforward in terms of where these people are coming from.”

He added: “Some of them were in hospitals, but most were not. A couple were in nursing homes, but many were just in their regular households.”

Bell said Elizabethkingia is common and doesn’t infect most people with normal immune systems. All of the Wisconsin cases involve those over age 65 with underlying disease.

Bell said that investigators are looking at anything that might be a delivery vehicle for the bacteria, ranging from personal care products to food.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services website updates cases of of Elizabethkingia every Wednesday. It has added one more county, Sheyboygan, to the areas affected in southern and central Wisconsin.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story reported that 18 deaths had been linked to the outbreak in Wisconsin. As of Wednesday evening, state health officials revised that number to 15. The story has been updated.