Disease from Soil Bacteria Kills 15 in Singapore

Bacteria lurking in soil and muddy water have killed 15 out of 31 victims in Singapore this year, twice the normal toll, the Straits Times newspaper reported on Friday.

Bacteria lurking in soil and muddy water have killed 15 out of 31 victims in Singapore this year, twice the normal toll, the Straits Times newspaper reported on Friday. Recent floods may have carried to the surface bacteria that normally live underground, the Health Ministry fears. The city state sees an average of 59 cases of the disease melioidosis each year, the paper said, and last year there were five deaths among the 42 infections reported. The disease spreads when people inhale infected dust particles or consume contaminated water or food. Cuts in the skin are another route. Direct transfer between people, or animals and people, is rare, but may follow contact with tainted blood or body fluids. Symptoms such as swelling, lung infection, high fever, cough, chest pains, diarrhea and skin lesions may surface within two days or only after several years. There is no vaccine for melioidosis, which is caused by the organism Burkholderia pseudomallei, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says on its Web site, but the disease can be treated with antibiotics. (Source: Reuters Health, April 2004)