Nine people have died from a disease linked with heavy rain since the start of summer, sparking health concerns.
North Queensland is recovering from weeks of wet weather that caused record-breaking flooding from Mackay to Cairns, with two people drowning and hundreds forced to evacuate.
As the region prepares for a potential cyclone, it is reeling from another threat lurking in the mud and dirty water left behind by the February floods.
Townsville Public Health Unit Director Steven Donohue confirmed three people had died from melioidosis since the floods, including elderly people from Ingham and Townsville.
There have been 24 cases of the soil-borne disease since the floods began.
Melioidosis also claimed two lives with six cases recorded in Townsville in January.
‘This is bigger than we’ve seen in the past,’ Dr Donohue told reporters on Friday.
The disease has also claimed four lives further north in Cairns, with the region recording a total number of 41 cases since January 1.
North Queensland is recovering from weeks of wet weather that caused record-breaking flooding from Mackay to Cairns, with two people drowning and hundreds forced to evacuate (pictured: floodwaters in Giru, south of Townsville)
Townsville Public Health Unit Director Steven Donohue confirmed three people had died from melioidosis (stock image) since the floods, including elderly people from Ingham and Townsville
The most at-risk Queenslanders are elderly people with diabetes, kidney trouble and other chronic illnesses like lung disease or heavy alcohol users.
Dr Donohue said melioidosis cases mainly spiked after heavy rain.
Soil bacteria rose to the surface in muddy water and people breathed it in or it entered the body through a break in the skin, he said.
Symptoms range from fever, pneumonia, exhaustion, vomiting, abdominal pains or chest pressure.
Queenslanders cleaning up from the record-breaking floods are urged to wear boots, long sleeve pants, gloves and a mask.
The disease’s mortality rate is 10 per cent.
Five cases of mosquito-borne dengue virus have been identified in two clusters in Townsville.
Dr Donohue said it was not clear whether the cases were connected but believed the risk to the public was low.
Soil bacteria rose to the surface in muddy water and people breathed it in or it entered the body through a break in the skin, Dr Donohue
North Queensland is on edge with a tropical low off the sodden coast considered a high chance of becoming a cyclone.
The Bureau of Meteorology said the low was 400km off Cairns and no immediate threat.
But the system has a high chance – 55 per cent – of becoming a cyclone from Monday.
The bureau said there was a range of possibilities over the next three days including the system moving east towards New Caledonia and Vanuatu.
Or it could move south closer to the Queensland coast.
Dr Donohue hoped the low did not form a cyclone as more heavy rain may lead to another melioidosis spike.
‘It really does seem to happen in the days and weeks following a heavy rain event, particularly when there’s damage to property and people are out there trying to clean up,’ he said.
