Where on the MS Coast did a rare bacteria cause melioidosis? Health officials won’t say.

The first U.S. cases of a rare bacteria that causes an often deadly disease were reported on the Mississippi Coast — but health officials won’t say where.

The two melioidosis patients, both men, lived 10 miles away from each other. One was infected in 2020 and the other in 2022, and both had severe reactions to the disease, including pneumonia and sepsis.

Both men recovered after treatment with antibiotics.

But neither the CDC nor the Mississippi Department of Health would confirm the exact city or county of the cases, which is been a frequent question from Sun Herald readers.

Julia Petras, the CDC epidemic service intelligence officer who led the investigation in Mississippi, told the Sun Herald in an interview that the infections occurred in “a coastal county.” She described the area as “more rural than urban” and added, “There’s a lot of riverways that run through there.”

Asked for the precise location of the infections, Liz Sharlot, communications director for the health department, wrote in an email, “The bacteria were isolated in samples taken from the MS Gulf Coast. It is possible that the bacteria are present in the soil of the lower three Coastal counties, and it is extremely important for residents at higher risk take appropriate precautions, regardless of where they reside on the MS Gulf Coast.”

Amanda MacGurn, a spokeswoman for the CDC’s Division of High-Consequence Pathogens and Pathology, told the Sun Herald in an email, “the Mississippi Department of Health requested that we not disclose the exact location for reasons relating to the privacy of the patients, and CDC defers to the states’ preferences on these matters.”

Sharlot said in an email that the location may be included in a report yet to be published by the CDC.

“The Mississippi State Department of Health does not have the final report produced by the CDC,” Sharlot told the Sun Herald.

“I assume the locations would be mentioned in the report however, I am unsure [if] even when the report is released, that information would be available. HIPAA protects the identity of affected individuals so I would think private addresses would be redacted,” Sharlot wrote, referring by an acronym to the federal law protecting patient privacy.

This story was originally published August 3, 2022 at 4:29 PM.