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The cause of
death was not identified as Elizabethkingia because many of
those people had underlying health conditions, the department
said. Ten Illinois residents have been diagnosed with
Elizabethkingia, and six have died.
Symptoms of Elizabethkingia can include fever, shortness of
breath and chills or cellulitis, but officials have said that
the bacteria are rarely reported to cause illness in humans.
Officials said the Illinois strain of Elizabethkingia differed
from the Wisconsin one. The department has asked hospitals to
report all cases of Elizabethkingia and save any specimens for
possible laboratory testing.
The patients who died in Wisconsin had serious underlying
conditions, health officials have said, and it remains unclear
whether the bacteria caused all the fatalities.
Wisconsin, Michigan and Illinois investigators are working with
the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to
determine the source of the bacteria.
(Reporting by Mark Weinraub; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
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