Dec 4, 2024, 11:00 AM
Dec 4, 2024, 11:00 AM

Woman hospitalized after cleaning fish tank, raises alarm over rare bacterial infection

Tragic
Highlights
  • A 56-year-old woman in Maryland developed pneumonia and an infection after cleaning her aquarium.
  • Doctors identified the rare bacteria Burkholderia pseudomallei in her blood, indicating melioidosis.
  • This case marks the first documented instance of melioidosis contracted in a U.S. fish tank.
Story

In Maryland, a 56-year-old woman became severely ill after cleaning her home aquarium, leading to a hospital visit. She presented symptoms such as fever, cough, and chest pain for two days, resulting in scans that revealed pneumonia and lab results indicating an elevated immune response. Medical professionals suspected an infection and tested her blood for bacteria, ultimately identifying Burkholderia pseudomallei, the causative agent of melioidosis, a disease that typically occurs in tropical and subtropical regions. Unusually, the patient had not traveled internationally, which is often the case with melioidosis infections in the United States. Doctors determined that the woman could have been exposed to the bacteria through her fish tanks. Investigators collected samples from her tanks and discovered that one tank contained B. pseudomallei. The woman had been cleaning the tank with her bare hands and arms, coinciding with the death of several fish she kept in that particular tank. The contaminated water was noted for being persistently cloudier than the other tank she owned. This incident marked a unique case of melioidosis in the U.S. connected to domestic exposure via aquarium supplies or fish. The initial treatment involved antibiotics, which effectively managed the woman’s fever and normalized her immune cell count. She spent 11 days in the hospital, after which she continued antibiotic treatments as an outpatient. However, her fever relapsed a few weeks later, necessitating a readmission for a more extensive antibiotic regimen. Ultimately, she endured multiple months on antibiotics to fully eradicate the infection. This case highlights the potential for local infections of melioidosis in regions where B. pseudomallei may exist in soil and water, such as along the Gulf Coast. Given that recent findings have detected the bacterium in soil and water in the Gulf Coast of Mississippi and possibly Texas, there are implications that other states could experience similar infections in the future due to contaminated imported products or local sources of the bacteria, especially since other recent cases have been linked to contamination from imported goods.

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