A deadly bacteria that kills up to 50 percent of people it infects has now been listed as endemic along the US gulf coast.
Dr Julia Petras, an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) who made the warning, said Burkholderia pseudomallei was now likely lurking in soil and stagnant water across the 1,600 miles from Texas to Florida.
People infected with the bacteria suffer melioidosis, a severe condition that can trigger pneumonia and sepsis and can be fatal.
Doctors are now on alert for the disease, which can initially be misdiagnosed as another infection.
The CDC declaration comes less than a year after it was detected in the US for the first time in soil from the Mississippi coast.
