Elizabethkingia has been found in a baby being treated in the neonatal intensive care unit at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, according to a report from Milwaukee NBC affiliate TMJ4.
NICU staff were alerted of the infection by email on Tuesday. The email, as reported by TMJ4, stated there is no indication of a serious infection. The hospital is working with the CDC and the Wisconsin Department of Health Services to determine whether testing of other NCIU employees or patients will be necessary. Both organizations have samples of the organism for further testing. Information on whether or not this is the same strain responsible for the possible 65 Wisconsin infections and potential 19 associated deaths in the state is not currently available.
The same strain responsible for the larger Wisconsin outbreak has been linked to one death in Illinois and Michigan respectively. A separate strain of Elizabethkingia has been linked to a cluster of 10 infections in Illinois.
The sources of infection for both the Wisconsin outbreak and the Illinois cluster remain unknown. CDC officials have categorized the Wisconsin outbreak as the largest of its kind the organization has ever investigated, according to the Journal Sentinel.
In a statement released to TMJ4, Children's Hospital wrote, "There are multiple strains of this organism and all known strains are successfully treated with antibiotics. This organism is not transferred easily from person to person, meaning that Children's standard infection prevention protocols are effective in preventing the spread of the disease."
More articles on infection control:
4 things to know about the international burden of norovirus
Harvard mumps outbreak persists: 40 cases confirmed
6 confirmed measles cases in Tennessee outbreak