<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>338773</docID> <postdate>2025-02-21 17:02:08</postdate> <headline>Disease deaths, cases rise as new flood menace surfaces</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-338774" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/FNQ-flooding-e1740093787717.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="533" /></p> <caption>North Queensland is reeling from record rainfall that triggered flooding which claimed two lives. Photo: Jamie Hervey</caption> <p><span class="kicker-line">By <strong>Savannah Meacham</strong> and <strong>Laine Clark</strong> in Brisbane</span></p> <p><strong>Three people have died from a disease linked with heavy rain since a clean-up began in a region devastated by flooding, sparking health concerns.</strong></p> <p>North Queensland is recovering from weeks of wet weather that caused record-breaking flooding from Mackay to Cairns, with two people drowning and hundreds forced to evacuate.</p> <p>As the region prepares for a potential cyclone, it is reeling from another threat lurking in the mud and dirty water left behind by the February floods.</p> <p>Townsville Public Health Unit Director Steven Donohue confirmed three people had died from melioidosis since the floods, including elderly people from Ingham and Townsville.</p> <p>There have been 24 cases of the soil-borne disease since the floods began.</p> <p>Melioidosis also claimed two lives with six cases recorded in Townsville in January.</p> <p>"This is bigger than we've seen in the past," Dr Donohue told reporters on Friday.</p> <p>The disease has also claimed four lives further north in Cairns, with the region recording a total number of 41 cases since January 1.</p> <p>The most at-risk Queenslanders are elderly people with diabetes, kidney trouble and other chronic illnesses like lung disease or heavy alcohol users.</p> <p>Dr Donohue said melioidosis cases mainly spiked after heavy rain.</p> <p>Soil bacteria rose to the surface in muddy water and people breathed it in or it entered the body through a break in the skin, he said.</p> <p>Symptoms range from fever, pneumonia, exhaustion, vomiting, abdominal pains or chest pressure.</p> <p>Queenslanders cleaning up from the record-breaking floods are urged to wear boots, long sleeve pants, gloves and a mask.</p> <p>The disease's mortality rate is 10 per cent.</p> <p>Five cases of mosquito-borne dengue virus have been identified in two clusters in Townsville.</p> <p>Dr Donohue said it was not clear whether the cases were connected but believed the risk to the public was low.</p> <p>North Queensland is on edge with a tropical low off the sodden coast considered a high chance of becoming a cyclone.</p> <p>The Bureau of Meteorology said the low was 400km off Cairns and no immediate threat.</p> <p>But the system has a high chance - 55 per cent - of becoming a cyclone from Monday.</p> <p>The bureau said there was a range of possibilities over the next three days including the system moving east towards New Caledonia and Vanuatu.</p> <p>Or it could move south closer to the Queensland coast.</p> <p>Dr Donohue hoped the low did not form a cyclone as more heavy rain may lead to another melioidosis spike.</p> <p>"It really does seem to happen in the days and weeks following a heavy rain event, particularly when there's damage to property and people are out there trying to clean up," he said</p> </body>