Anthrax is an infection caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis. Infection typically occurs by contact with the skin, inhalation, or intestinal absorption. Symptom onset occurs between one day and more than two months after the infection is contracted. The skin form presents with a small blister with surrounding swelling that often turns into a painless ulcer with a black center. The inhalation form presents with fever, chest pain and shortness of breath. The intestinal form presents with diarrhea, abdominal pains, nausea and vomiting.
Pneumonic plague is a severe lung infection caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Symptoms include fever, headache, shortness of breath, chest pain, and coughing. They typically start about three to seven days after exposure. It is one of three forms of plague, the other two being septicemic plague and bubonic plague.
Shigellosis is an infection of the intestines caused by Shigella bacteria. Symptoms generally start one to two days after exposure and include diarrhea, fever, abdominal pain, and feeling the need to pass stools even when the bowels are empty. The diarrhea may be bloody. Symptoms typically last five to seven days and it may take several months before bowel habits return entirely to normal. Complications can include reactive arthritis, sepsis, seizures, and hemolytic uremic syndrome.
Whooping cough, also known as pertussis or the 100-day cough, is a highly contagious, vaccine-preventable bacterial disease. Initial symptoms are usually similar to those of the common cold with a runny nose, fever, and mild cough, but these are followed by two or three months of severe coughing fits. Following a fit of coughing, a high-pitched whoop sound or gasp may occur as the person breathes in. The violent coughing may last for 10 or more weeks, hence the phrase "100-day cough". The cough may be so hard that it causes vomiting, rib fractures, and fatigue. Children less than one year old may have little or no cough and instead have periods where they cannot breathe. The incubation period is usually seven to ten days. Disease may occur in those who have been vaccinated, but symptoms are typically milder.
Hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) is a common infection caused by a group of enteroviruses. It typically begins with a fever and feeling generally unwell. This is followed a day or two later by flat discolored spots or bumps that may blister, on the hands, feet and mouth and occasionally buttocks and groin. Signs and symptoms normally appear 3–6 days after exposure to the virus. The rash generally resolves on its own in about a week. Fingernail and toenail loss may occur a few weeks later, but they will regrow with time.
Listeriosis is a bacterial infection most commonly caused by Listeria monocytogenes, although L. ivanovii and L. grayi have been reported in certain cases. Listeriosis can cause severe illness, including severe sepsis, meningitis, or encephalitis, sometimes resulting in lifelong harm and even death. Those at risk of severe illness are the elderly, fetuses, newborns and those who are immunocompromised. In pregnant women it may cause stillbirth or spontaneous abortion, and preterm birth is common. Listeriosis may cause mild, self-limiting gastroenteritis and fever in anyone.
Meningococcal disease describes infections caused by the bacterium Neisseria meningitidis. It has a high mortality rate if untreated but is vaccine-preventable. While best known as a cause of meningitis, it can also result in sepsis, which is an even more damaging and dangerous condition. Meningitis and meningococcemia are major causes of illness, death, and disability in both developed and under-developed countries.
The 2006 North American E. coli outbreak was an Escherichia coli O157:H7 outbreak from prepackaged spinach. The outbreak occurred in September 2006, and its origin was an Angus cattle ranch that had leased land to a spinach grower. At least 276 consumer illnesses and 3 deaths have been attributed as a result from the outbreak.
The 2011 United States listeriosis outbreak was a widespread outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes food poisoning across 28 US states that resulted from contaminated cantaloupes linked to Jensen Farms of Holly, Colorado. As of the final report on August 27, 2012, there were 33 deaths and 147 total confirmed cases since the beginning of the first recorded case on July 31, 2011. It was the worst foodborne illness outbreak in the United States, measured by the number of deaths, since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began tracking outbreaks in the 1970s, or tied with the worst, an outbreak of listeria from cheese in 1985, depending on which CDC report is used.
The 2012 outbreak of Salmonella took place in 15 places worldwide with over 2,300 strains identified.
Beginning in May 2003, by July a total of 71 cases of human monkeypox were found in six Midwestern states including Wisconsin, Indiana (16), Illinois (12), Kansas (1), Missouri (2), and Ohio (1). The cause of the outbreak was traced to three species of African rodents imported from Ghana on April 9, 2003, into the United States by an exotic animal importer in Texas. These were shipped from Texas to an Illinois distributor, who housed them with prairie dogs, which then became infected.
Ebola, also known as Ebola virus disease (EVD) and Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF), is a viral hemorrhagic fever in humans and other primates, caused by ebolaviruses. Symptoms typically start anywhere between two days and three weeks after infection. The first symptoms are usually fever, sore throat, muscle pain, and headaches. These are usually followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash and decreased liver and kidney function, at which point some people begin to bleed both internally and externally. It kills between 25% and 90% of those infected – about 50% on average. Death is often due to shock from fluid loss, and typically occurs between six and 16 days after the first symptoms appear. Early treatment of symptoms increases the survival rate considerably compared to late start. An Ebola vaccine was approved by the US FDA in December 2019.
Legionnaires' disease is a form of atypical pneumonia caused by any species of Legionella bacteria, quite often Legionella pneumophila. Signs and symptoms include cough, shortness of breath, high fever, muscle pains, and headaches. Nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may also occur. This often begins 2–10 days after exposure.
Elizabethkingia anophelis is a yellow-pigmented, rod-shaped, gram-negative bacterium in the Flavobacteriaceae family. Elizabethkingia is isolated from the midgut of Anopheles gambiae G3 mosquitoes reared in captivity. The genus Elizabethkingia, named for former US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) microbiologist Elizabeth O. King, also includes E. meningoseptica which causes neonatal sepsis and infections in immunocompromised persons, E. endophytica, and E. miricola.
Elizabeth Osborne King was an American microbiologist who discovered and described bacteria of medical importance at the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from the late 1940s through the early 1960s. A 1984 CDC manual dedication referred to King as "internationally known as an authority on a variety of unusual bacteria." The genera Kingella and Elizabethkingia and several species of bacteria are named to honor her for her pioneering work. King died of cancer on April 8, 1966, in Atlanta, where she is interred in Oakland Cemetery.
Elizabethkingia miricola is a species of bacterium isolated from condensation water in Space Station Mir, related to Elizabethkingia anophelis, the cause of the 2016 outbreak of Elizabethkingia anophelis human infections in Wisconsin that began in early November 2015. The genus name Elizabethkingia honors former United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) microbiologist Elizabeth O. King, and the specific epithet is derived from combining the Russian name of the space station from which the bacterium was isolated, "Mir" meaning "peace," and the Latin "incola" meaning "inhabitant," yielding miricola, "inhabitant of the Mir space station."
Elizabethkingia is a genus of bacterium described in 2005, named after Elizabeth O. King, the discoverer of the type species. Before this genus being formed in 2005, many of the species of Elizabethkingia were classified in the Chryseobacterium genus. Elizabethkingia has been found in soil, rivers, and reservoirs worldwide.
Candida auris is a species of fungus that grows as yeast. It is one of the few species of the genus Candida which cause candidiasis in humans. Often, candidiasis is acquired in hospitals by patients with weakened immune systems. C. auris can cause invasive candidiasis (fungemia) in which the bloodstream, the central nervous system, and internal organs are infected. It has attracted widespread attention because of its multiple drug resistance. Treatment is also complicated because it is easily misidentified as other Candida species.
The 2018 American salmonella outbreak was an American foodborne disaster that started in Iowa, spreading to 7 other states, sickening as many as 265 people, killing one, with 94 hospitalized. Ready-to-eat chicken salad was produced by Iowa-based Triple T Specialty Meats Inc. between January 2 and February 7 for distribution in Fareway grocery stores. Salad was sold in containers of various weights at Fareway stores deli from January 4 to February 9. Total of approximately 20 630 pounds of chicken were deemed contaminated with Salmonella Typhimurium at the time of recall on February 21.
