Officials seek source of deadly infections
Bacteria tied to 18 deaths in state since Dec. 29
State and federal health officials are scrambling to learn how Elizabethkingia anophelis, a bacteria linked to 18 deaths and 44 cases of infection in southern Wisconsin, has been spreading.
The investigation, which began when six cases were reported to the state between Dec. 29 and Jan. 5, now includes several dozen Wisconsin epidemiologists and lab workers as well as five “disease detectives” sent from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The cases come from 11 counties: Columbia, Dane, Dodge, Fond du Lac, Jefferson, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Sauk, Washington and Waukesha.
Signs and symptoms of illness that result from exposure to the bacteria include fever, shortness of breath, chills or cellulitis, a bacterial skin infection. Confirmation of the illness requires a laboratory test.
The CDC said at least some of the patients fell ill after being admitted to a hospital. Others were residents in either a nursing home or skilled nursing facility.
State Health Officer Karen McKeown said the number of infections is expected to climb.
“We’ve been getting reports pretty much every day, so we do think this is an ongoing outbreak,” said Chris Braden, deputy director of the CDC’s National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases. So far, no other states have reported cases.
Braden said the infection is so rare that there is no national surveillance for it. No one knows how many people are sickened or die from the infection each year.
dable Care Act to expand its Medicaid program while turning down the additional federal dollars available through the law to pay for it.
Obama said the governor is “denying Wisconsinites their ticket to health insurance — and it’s political.”
If Johnson gets his way and repeals Obamacare, the president said, “millions of working families will see their insurance premiums spike.”
And if Ryan gets his way and repeals the measure, “millions of women would go back to paying higher premiums, just because they’re women,” Obama said.
Obamacare remains politically controversial in Wisconsin and across the country.
Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel said in a statement that he is “fighting vigorously against (the law’s) attack on religious liberty, and the unlawful mandates, fees, and restrictions it imposes on taxpayers, employers and our state.”
In a statement, Johnson said, “In Milwaukee, 1,200 people are losing their jobs because Obamacare is driving a major health insurer out of the field. No wonder one in five Wisconsinites told researchers for Harvard and the widely respected Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that Obamacare has hurt them personally, with 41% of Wisconsinites saying their health care has grown more unaffordable over the past two years.”
Obama’s trip was designed to show how the law is working.
Before stopping in the middle of the packed school gymnasium on the campus of the United Community Center, the president ate lunch at the restaurant Engine Company 3 in Milwaukee. There, he met with Brown and four others who wrote to him about the Affordable Care Act.
On the way in, he stopped to talk with diners, and one woman appeared to be moved to tears as she spoke with him. He then headed upstairs to meet with the select group.
They talked about the weather and the Midwest, with Obama telling his guests, “It always feels good being closer to home.”
One woman asked the president whether he and first lady Michelle Obama plan to move back to Chicago after his term is over.
“We haven’t figured that out yet,” Obama said, adding that he and his wife don’t want their younger daughter Sasha to have to transfer during high school, so they plan to stay in D.C. for a while longer.
Brown said afterward that he was impressed by the president and honored to appear on the stage with him.
“To be able to introduce him, and to apologize to him, to give him the respect and honor he deserves is something I will cherish forever,” said Brown, who is still a Republican, in large part because of his anti-abortion beliefs.
“I still hold to my core values,” he said. “But how we get to those has changed. As a Republican, I was focused on pre-life, life in the womb. But we forget what happens afterward . . . when people are 20 or 30. They also deserve respect.”
Among those in the crowd at the UCC were Milwaukee Bucks players, former U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl, and U.S Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Milwaukee). Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele both spoke to the audience before Obama’s arrival.
Also there was 101-yearold Kathleen Cunningham of Milwaukee, who was fulfilling her dream of seeing the president in person. Cunningham — smartly dressed in a crisp red suit, the name “Obama” emblazoned in glitter on her hat — was in a wheelchair pushed by nieces Sallie Brown and Antoinette Harris. She carried a bag bearing the president’s face full of “Obama” memorabilia — a hat, a calendar.
Obama greeted the elderly woman, kissing her on the cheek, as he moved through June 11 Green Bay Nov. 4 Madison June 30 Racine Aug. 16 Menomonee Falls Sept. 6 Laborfest Sept. 28 UW-Madison
Jan. 26 Manitowoc Feb. 15 Master Lock Sept. 22 Old World 3rd St.
BMO Harris Pavilion the crowd after his speech. And the family was invited to a back room where the president wheeled her across the room and posed for photographs with her.
“Oh, my gosh, she couldn’t believe it,” Brown said. “He was just so gentle with her.” Oct. 4 Bascom Hill Nov. 3 Delta Airlines Center
Nov. 5 Madison Jan. 30 Mitchell Int. Airport
Waukesha
Sept. 1 Laborfest
Oct. 28 North Division H.S.
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La Crosse March 3 United Community
Center