CHICAGO — A mysterious bacteria known as Elizabethkingia has killed 20 people in the Midwest in the United States.
The Elizabethkingia bacteria, named after microbiologist Elizabeth King who discovered it in 1959, can be found in soil, river and reservoirs worldwide.
Elizabethkingia infections first appeared in Wisconsin last fall. Since then, it has spread to Michigan and Illinois. Mystery surrounds the outbreak as the bacteria rarely makes people sick and it is not transmitted person-to-person.
"How it is transmitted? How is it spread? What sort of diseases does it cause and how can we manage it? Those are very intense areas of investigation right now," Dr. Nirav Shah, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health told CBS News.
According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the bacteria can cause meningitis in newborn babies and meningitis or bloodstream and respiratory infections in people, typically older, with compromised immune systems.
Symptoms of infection may include fever, chills, headache and neck pain, as well as skin infections.
There have been 61 confirmed cases in total in Wisconsin, Michigan and illinois in which 18 people were confirmed dead in Wisconsin, one in Michigan and one in illinois as of April 13.
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