Last week, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services updated outbreak information, adding a new suspected case of Elizabethkingia to the list of infections. On Wednesday, the department confirmed that case and an additional case to bring the total of confirmed infections in the state to 63.
There are four additional cases in individuals who tested positive for Elizabethkingia, but those strains cannot be confirmed as being associated with the outbreak because specimens are no longer available for testing.
In total, there have been 19 deaths associated with Elizabethkingia in Wisconsin. Additionally, a Michigan resident and a resident from Illinois with confirmed infections related to the Wisconsin outbreak have also died. Elizabethkingia cannot be confirmed as the direct cause of death because most of those infected were over the age of 65 and suffered from preexisting comorbidities.
In recent months, effective antibiotic treatment and expedited infection detection have decreased the severity of the outbreak.
The Wisconsin outbreak began in November 2015. The CDC has been assisting with the WDHS since January, but the source of the infection continues to elude investigators.
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