Infectious disease melioidosis could spread across Australia

The disease has killed five in the last year and could start “popping up” in other parts of Australia.

A potentially deadly disease hiding in plain sight in gardens in the Northern Territory is getting worse, experts have warned.

Melioidosis is an infectious disease caused by bacteria that lives in tropical soil and water.

It has claimed five lives in the Northern Territory over the past year. In the year before that, 87 people were diagnosed and six died after coming into contact with contaminated air or soil.

Bart Currie, Professor in Medicine at Menzies School of Health Research told Yahoo News melioidosis is becoming a more “substantial issue”.

Melioidosis is an infectious disease caused by bacteria in tropical soils and water. Picture: Getty

The Northern Territory’s wet season has begun, and he predicts case numbers will be “high”.

He added it is likely to “pop up in various places in Australia” in the future because of the increased impact of climate change.

The bacteria that cause melioidosis is hard to diagnose. The most common way people become sick is when cuts on their skin are exposed to mud, or soil, during the wet season.

Melioidosis is an infectious disease caused by bacteria in tropical soils and water. Picture: Getty

“If people are caught out in storms and severe weather — even healthy people can get very sick from it. That’s what causes the most severe form of melioidosis, which is a very severe pneumonia, which turns into blood poisoning,” Mr Currie told the publication.

Last month experts on the disease met for the 10th World Melioidosis Congress in Darwin. It was announced a vaccine for the most vulnerable may be only a few years away.

Originally published as Infectious disease melioidosis could spread across Australia