Free Republic

A rare blood infection is claiming lives, and the CDC can't pinpoint the source. The infection, caused by the Elizabethkingia anophelis bacteria, has killed 17 people in Wisconsin since November and just claimed a life in Michigan, the Detroit News reports. Elizabethkingia is often found in water and soil, but – until now – has seldom caused infections. So far, 54 Wisconsin residents have contracted the infection, CNN reports. "We don't see 48 of the identical organism causing an outbreak like this very often," Michael Bell, deputy director for the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion at the Centers for Disease...

As health official continue to search for the origins of the ongoing Elizabethkingiam outbreak, the rare blood infection has now made its way to a second state. Having already sickened over 50 people since first being detected in Wisconsin in November, the Michigan Department of Health said Thursday that one of its own residents has tested positive for the infection. After being diagnosed with Elizabethkingiam, the elderly patient with several existing health conditions later died. The Wisconsin Department of Health has so far confirmed 54 cases of Elizabethkingiam “The majority of patients acquiring this infection are over the age of...

Ms. Smith’s tragic demise was more dramatic than many cases of hospital-acquired infection (HAI). Necrotizing fasciitis is a frightening, but rare, complication. Still, about 8,000 Canadians a year die from bugs they contract in facilities meant to make them better, while many more see their hospital stay prolonged by such illness. Yet after years of well-intentioned work and millions of dollars spent on combatting the scourge, the details and extent of the problem remain murky. No national statistics, for instance, document the number of surgical-wound infections like Ms. Smith’s, one of the most common types of hospital-acquired pathogens. A federal...