Ten people have been struck down with the potentially deadly soil-borne disease melioidosis, including a woman who has died from it, after disastrous flooding in North Queensland.

Townsville public health unit physician Dr Julie Mudd says that while two cases of melioidosis are being cared for in the community, seven remain in Townsville hospital for intensive treatment.

The soil-borne bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei, which causes melioidosis, has been stirred up by heavily contaminated floodwaters, with authorities warning they expect more locals will become infected during the flood clean-up.

“It’s a very serious infection … [but] we’re not calling it an outbreak; it is what we would consider a seasonal variation,” Dr Mudd says.