Increased Incidence of Melioidosis in Far North Queensland, Queensland, Australia, 1998–2019
Simon Smith, Peter Horne, Sally Rubenach, Richard Gair, James Stewart, Lee Fairhead, Josh Hanson
Abstract
B urkholderia pseudomallei, an environmental gram- negative bacterium, causes the disease melioidosis. Although infection is frequently asymptomatic, melioidosis may be rapidly fatal for patients with underlying conditions that increase the risk for invasive disease. Modeling suggests that B. pseudomallei is ubiquitous in the tropics and that the global burden of disease is expected to rise (1). Indeed, increased melioidosis incidence has been documented in some countries (2). Although this increase may be associated with improved diagnostic capacity, it may also be explained by a growing burden of predisposing concurrent medical conditions or by greater B. pseudomallei exposure from environmental disruption (3,4). Changing weather patterns also have the potential to increase melioidosis incidence (5).