Elizabethkingia: 5 Things We Know and a Few We Don't

An outbreak of rare Elizabethkingia anaophelis infections in Wisconsin and beyond have left communities and health officials with questions about the mysterious spread of the bacteria.

A deceased 52-year-old Lake Villa woman had the only confirmed case in Illinois, and one person in Michigan who died also had the bacterial infection.

• See also: 1st Illinoisan to Die of Elizabethkingia Bacteria ID'd as Lake Villa Woman

Wisconsin reports 57 people have been infected with the same strain of Elizabethkingia since Nov. 1, 2015, and 18 people who had the infection have died.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and the Illinois Department of Public Health are on the case, working to investigate the bacteria and find ways to prevent more infections, according to IDPH director Nirav D. Shah.

Five things we know:

1. Elizabethkingia is common. Infections caused by it are not.

The bacteria involved in this outbreak are all over the environment, and they're commonly found in water and soil. You've probably come across it before and had no ill effects because Elizabethkinga bacteria don't usually make people sick. Only about half a dozen people every year report cases of Elizabethkingia infections in each state.

2. The infection is not contagious.

Put that surgical mask away because you cannot catch Elizabethkingia from someone else. The bacteria can't be transmitted from person to person.

3. Young and generally healthy people shouldn't be worried.

All of the people with confirmed cases of Elizabethkingia infections have had underlying health conditions or a serious illness that weakened their immune systems. Most of the patients have been older than 65, and no children have been affected. People who are young and generally healthy don't need to be concerned.

4. The infection can be treated, if it's caught early.

With early detection, the bacterial infection is treatable with an antibiotic regimen. Hospitals and health care providers in Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin have been asked to report all cases of Elizabethkingia and to save specimens for lab testing, and health professionals have been instructed to look for the bacterial infection in patients with immune-compromising conditions. Symptoms of Elizabethkingia can include fever, shortness of breath, chills or cellulitis.

5. All of the bacteria causing the infection outbreak is probably coming from the same source.

The particular strain of the bacteria in this outbreak has been identified as Elizabethkingia anophelis, which means all of the bacteria involved in these infections are identical organisms. So the bacteria may be coming from the same source.

Some things we don't know

1. Health officials can't say for sure if the deaths were caused by the bacterial infections.

Because Elizabethkingia are opportunistic pathogens that prey on people with weakened immune systems, health officials don't know if the infection has actually killed anyone. The patients may have died of their pre-existing medical conditions, or the deaths might have been caused by both factors.

2. The source of the strain of bacteria causing the infections hasn't yet been determined.

Health officials in Wisconsin are pretty sure the bacteria isn't coming from groundwater, but nothing has been completely ruled out as a source. Officials have collected samples from homes and health care facilities, and they've tested health care products, water sources and other items in the patients' environments.

Photos courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Special Bacteriology Reference Lab.
Top left: Elizabethkingia anophelis growing on a blood agar plate. Top right: Single colonies of Elizabethkingia anophelis growing on blood agar. Bottom left: Pictured here is a 4.0X magnification of a single colony of Elizabethkingia anophelis. Bottom right: Three individual Elizabethkingia anophelis colonies growing next to each other on blood agar.

The information in this article comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and the Illinois Department of Public Health.