New tragic details of US child who died from tropical bacteria in room spray - Ars Technica

The fourth person affected by a bacterial outbreak linked to imported aromatherapy room sprays sold at Walmart last year occurred in a previously healthy 5-year-old boy in Georgia, who died of the infection.

pseudomallei infection, which causes a disease called melioidosis.

At that point, the CDC has already issued a nationwide alert on June 30 over three other melioidosis cases in three other states: Kansas, Minnesota, and Texas.

The first case occurred in March 2021 in an adult in Kansas who died of the infection.

The two other cases occurred in May: an adult in Minnesota who survived and a 4-year-old girl in Texas who was left with brain damage.

Though state and CDC health investigators knew the cases were connected and that an imported product or animal was likely to blame, they had yet to figure out a common source.

On July 7, a week after the CDC's melioidosis alert, the boy started feeling ill with fever, weakness, sore throat, nausea, and vomiting.

The state health department designated it a presumptive case on July 26, and the CDC confirmed melioidosis and its link to the other three cases on July 29, Pavlick said.

People can be infected if they ingest soil, water, or food that contains the bacteria; if they breathe in contaminated dust or water droplets; or if soil or water harboring the germ comes in contact with a break in the skin.

On October 26, the CDC confirmed the finding and announced that the spray was the source of the bacterial strain in all four melioidosis cases.