A deadly bacteria with a roughly 50 percent fatality rate worldwide has made its way to the US Gulf Coast, where it has been declared endemic by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC has confirmed three cases of infection from the bacteria Burkholderia pseudomallei, which can cause potentially lethal melioidosis if not treated. “It is an environmental organism that lives naturally in the soil, and typically freshwater in certain areas around the world. Mostly in subtropical and tropical climates,” Julia Petras, an epidemic intelligence service officer with CDC’s National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, told...
