Solving a Bacterial Riddle – One Gene at a Time

In 2015 and 2016, the bacteria Elizabethkingia anopheles caused an outbreak in Wisconsin that is still unsolved. But an international scientific collaboration to examine the bacteria’s genomic history gives an answer to one part of the mystery – the 63 people sickened in Wisconsin were all exposed to the same novel strain of bacteria.

Testing performed by Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene scientists as part of the initial outbreak investigation laid the groundwork for the international genomic study, findings of which were published in Naturehttps://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms15483.

Other news coverage of the findings:

WisContext – “Genetic Lessons Of Wisconsin’s Elizabethkingia Outbreak” https://www.wiscontext.org/genetic-lessons-wisconsins-elizabethkingia-outbreak

The Atlantic – “How a Usually Harmless Bacteria Ended Up Killing 18 People in Wisconsin” https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/05/elizabethkingia-anophelis-wisconsin/528081/