From Medscape Medical News, 19 May 2025:
Australia has recorded its highest number of cases of the tropical bacterial infection melioidosis, which is thought to have been triggered by major rainfall and flooding. The outbreak has placed pressure on already strained hospitals in the area.
The northeastern state of Queensland has recorded an unprecedented 215 cases of melioidosis so far this year compared with 59 cases over a similar period in 2024 and 46 cases in 2023. The state also recorded 31 deaths.
“We’ve had about four times more [cases] in Cairns and the hinterland area compared to the year-to-date average, and about six times more here in Townsville than the year-to-date average,” Jeff Warner, PhD, a microbiologist at the Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine at James Cook University in Townsville, told Medscape Medical News. Read more.
Bianca Nogrady 