THURSDAY, July 28, 2022 (HealthDay News) — A bacterium that causes a rare but serious illness was discovered in soil and water samples in the Mississippi Gulf Coast region after two people living nearby fell ill .

In an advisory released Wednesday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised Gulf Coast residents, especially those with certain health conditions, to take precautions against Burkholderia pseudomallei and prevent a disease it causes: melioidosis.

Symptoms of melioidosis can include fever, joint pain, and headache. It can also cause pneumonia, abscesses and blood infections. Melioidosis is fatal in about 10-50% of infected people worldwide, and it usually surfaces in tropical and subtropical regions, such as South and Southeast Asia, northern Australia, Porto Rico and parts of Central and South America.

The agency is warning clinicians nationwide to check for melioidosis when patients have symptoms consistent with the disease.

Melioidosis is caused by direct contact with the bacteria. While about a dozen people in the United States get it each year, most have recently traveled to a country where it is endemic. The disease has also been linked to contaminated commercial products imported from countries where the disease is endemic, including a Case 2021 involving an imported contaminated aromatherapy spray that sickened four people in four states.

The CDC and its partners will continue to investigate the geographic spread of the bacteria.