This year, roughly a dozen Americans will contract melioidosis, an infection caused by a tropical bacteria with a fatality rate as high as 50 percent.

Two of the four known patients in one recent outbreak died, and none of them had recently traveled abroad, which suggests the bacteria is incubating on U.S. soil.

But the toll could climb far, far higher. The antibiotic-resistant bacteria, Burkholderia pseudomallei, is classified as a potential bioterrorism agent, since it's easily transported and diffused in air and water.

It's known as the "great mimicker" because it can infect multiple organs and imitate different illnesses, according to the medical journal, Virulence.

Many clinicians find it difficult to detect and diagnose melioidosis. Few........

© The Hill