Did roadworks lead to a rise in this bacterial infection?
Australian researchers say major roadworks around Cairns could be to blame for a 10-fold increase in melioidosis cases
Major roadworks around Cairns in Far North Queensland could be to blame for a 10-fold increase in melioidosis cases, researchers say.
The disease is endemic in the region and caused two deaths and 17 hospitalisations in the first three months of the year, health authorities said in March.
Infectious diseases physicians at Cairns Hospital investigated the disease trajectory over two decades and found the incidence of confirmed local cases of Burkholderia pseudomallei infection rose from 0.6 to 6.6 per 100,000 people.
Incidence increased across the whole of Far North Queensland between 1998 and 2019 from 4 to 9 cases per 100,000, they reported.
