Emerging diseases: a highly mutant strain of the Elizabethkingia bacterium behind an outbreak in Wisconsin

Scientists from the Institut Pasteur and the CNRS, working in collaboration with US and Australian teams, have completed full genomic and evolutionary characterization of the strain of the Elizabethkingia anophelis bacterium that affected around 60 people in Wisconsin in 2015-2016. Their research reveals that this outbreak was caused by a highly mutant strain of E. anophelis. It is unusual for bacteria to have such a high rate of mutation, and this property could confer a selective advantage on this strain – which is also notable for its resistance to several antibiotics. These data, published on May 24, 2017 in the journal Nature Communications, have been made available to the international scientific community.

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