Free Republic

Four people in the U.S. have mysteriously fallen ill with a rare and sometimes deadly bacterial disease that's usually seen only in other countries with tropical climates, according to health officials. Yet none of these patients had traveled outside the country. The four cases, which were identified between March and July, occurred in Georgia, Kansas, Texas and Minnesota, according to a statement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Two of the patients died and two were hospitalized for long periods of time. The first death occurred in Kansas in March, and the second death occurred last month...

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed a new fatal case of the rare disease melioidosis in Georgia that is linked to three previous cases in different states, including Texas. The cases have included adults and children. Two of the four patients had no known risk factors for melioidosis; two died. Melioidosis, also called Whitmore’s disease, is an infectious disease that can infect humans or animals. The disease is caused by the bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei. Whole genome sequencing at CDC shows the bacterial strains that sickened the patients – one each in Texas, Kansas, Georgia and Minnesota –...

SLIDELL -- Charles "Dooey" De Silva III was an outgoing six-year-old with a love for fun and a knack for karate. In mid-January, a nagging fever, at times as high as 106, led him to the hospital in Slidell. He was sent home with antibiotics, but the fever didn't budge. "He just had pain," said De Silva's aunt, Venus McCoy, "He said everything hurt - everything." That's when doctors suggested to take him to Children's Hospital to be checked out for something his family had never heard of before. "Kawasaki Disease is the most common arteritis of childhood and arteritis...

A new drug is offering hope for the family of a little girl whose genetic defect causes mobility issues similar to that of polio and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Four-year-old Lexi Pacini, of Colorado Springs, was diagnosed with type 2 spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) as a toddler. The rare disease is marked by the absence of a gene that codes protein signals from motor neurons to muscles, and it leads muscles to weaken to the point of atrophy. **SNIP** “She dances the way she knows how, in her walker,” Tammy told Children’s Hospital Colorado in the release. “She just doesn’t...

"Seventeen people have died of the mysterious disease since it broke out early this week in Ode-Irele town," said Ondo state government spokesman Kayode Akinmade. The disease, symptoms of which include headache, weight loss, blurred vision and loss of consciousness, killed the victims within 24 hours of their falling ill, he said. Laboratory tests have so far ruled out Ebola or any other virus, Mr Akinmade added. The World Health Organisation (WHO) said it had information on 14 cases with at least 12 dead. "Common symptoms were sudden blurred vision, headache, loss of consciousness followed by death, occurring within 24...

SAN ANTONIO- Government health officials are urging stronger infection control procedures in military hospitals following a number of infections among troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bacterium Acinetobacter baumannii, which is resistant to most antibiotic drugs, could be infecting troops on the battlefield and ending up in field hospitals along with casualties from conflicts in the Middle East, a doctor says. The infection's spread in hospitals prompted health officials to stress better infection control methods.