On Wednesday, the Illinois Department of Public Health announced 10 state residents have been diagnosed with Elizabethkingia anopheles infections, and six of them have died. However, the strain in Illinois is different than that of the Wisconsin outbreak.
After news of the outbreak in Wisconsin, the IDPH sent alerts in February and March to hospitals and laboratories requesting that all cases of Elizabethkingia be reported. Specimens collected from these institutions were sent to the CDC for testing, resulting in the 10 confirmed cases.
"Although this strain of Elizabethkingia is different than the one seen in the Wisconsin outbreak, our investigatory methods remain the same and we continue to work with the CDC and our local health departments to investigate this cluster of cases and develop ways to prevent additional infections," said IDPH Director Nirav D. Shah, MD.
In regards to the six deceased residents, IDPH reportedly cannot attribute cause of death directly to the infection because many of those individuals had underlying health problems.
On April 12, Illinois health officials confirmed one case of Elizabethkingia related to the Wisconsin outbreak in a deceased resident. The Wisconsin strain has also been linked to a death in Michigan.
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