Australia reports surge in melioidosis cases; death toll hits 31
An outbreak of a soil borne disease linked to heavy rainfall and flooding has resulted in dozens of deaths in northern Queensland, Australia, this year.
Queensland Health confirmed 31 people have died from melioidosis and 221 cases have been reported this year, an increase of 163 cases compared the same period last year, News.Az reports, citing Australian media.
“Cases are most commonly reported in residents of the Torres and Cape, North West, Cairns and Hinterland and Townsville regions,” a spokesman said.
According to Queensland Health, melioidosis is rare tropical disease caused by a bacteria found in soil and groundwater in South East Asia and northern parts of Australia across Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia.
The disease occurs when bacteria enters the body from soil through cuts or sores, drinking contaminated water or by breathing it in after heavy rain in the wet season or flooding.
While melioidosis is rare in healthy adults and children, people with long term health conditions or people who drink heavily are more susceptible to the disease, which can be life threatening.
James Cook University head of biomedical sciences and molecular biology Jeffrey Warner has been examining melioidosis in northern Australia.
Professor Warner said the saprophyte organism typically lived in the tropics and occurred naturally in soils and water courses after it rained, but its habitat seemed to be expanding.
“That’s almost certainly due to both climate and environmental changes that’s been happening recently,” he said.
“The disease presents in many different ways, the what we like to say up here in the north, it’s one of the most common causes of fatal bacterial community acquired pneumonia that is not acquired in a hospital.
“Because it rains very heavily, the organism can get liberated out of the soil – its natural habitat – and then people predisposed to it can get exposed and become very sick with pneumonia, blood poisoning or sepsis.”
Professor Warner said there had been a shift in places were melioidosis was present over the past 10 to 15 years and more cases were appearing in Cairns
Melioidosis cases increased by 400 per cent in Cairns and 600 per cent in Townsville this year, and scientists are trying to understand what caused the recent outbreak in the north and why more people were susceptible to it.
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