JACKSON, Miss. — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Wednesday that a deadly bacteria has been found in environmental samples on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The discovery of the bacteria is the first in the United States.

According to a CDC news release, a person on the coast was diagnosed with melioidosis in 2020, a rare disease caused by a bacteria known as Burkholderia pseudomallei. A second person living in close geographic proximity was diagnosed with the disease in 2022.

The cases prompted state health officials and the CDC to take samples and test household products, soil, and water in and around both patients’ homes, with permission. The bacteria was found in samples of soil and standing water.

How long it has been on the coast and its spatial distribution isn’t known, but the CDC said conditions are conducive to its growth along all Gulf Coast states.

The CDC stated an average of 12 cases of the disease occur annually in the U.S., but according to Mississippi state epidemiologist Paul Byers, most of those cases are due to travel to countries where the bacteria have been known to normally occur.

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“Typically, we see these bacteria in countries where the bacteria are endemic or where it normally occurs,” Byers said. “Burkholderia pseudomallei normally occurs in tropical and sub-tropical areas like Southeast Asia or Central or South America. Because of the identification of this bacteria on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, persons at high risk for severe infection living on the Gulf Coast should take recommended precautions.”