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Speaker 1: Earlier this year, there was a spike in milliadosis cases

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Speaker 1: following the heavy rainfall around Christmas and New Year period.

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Speaker 1: We know that cases of the disease found in contaminated

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Speaker 1: soil and water have continued to rise, and the Center

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Speaker 1: for Disease Controlled Director Vicki Krause joins me on the

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Speaker 1: line right now to give us a bit of an update.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Vicki, Yeah, good morning, Thanks so.

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Speaker 1: Much for your time this morning. Now, first off, can

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Speaker 1: you remind us about what meliadosis is.

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Speaker 2: Well. Melio dosis is a disease that is common in

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Speaker 2: the tropics and subtropics, but particularly common to us in

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Speaker 2: the Northern Territory in the top end. It's a soil

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Speaker 2: borne disease, so it's from a bacteria that lives in

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Speaker 2: the soil, usually deep in the soil that's brought to

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Speaker 2: the surface after drenching rains such as we've been having

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Speaker 2: over the past several months now. It causes usually a

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Speaker 2: severe illness when it presents. It presents most commonly with pneumonia,

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Speaker 2: so that's like cough, fever, shortness of breath, but it

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Speaker 2: actually can form abscesses in many parts of the body,

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Speaker 2: so it depends where the abscesses land on what type

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Speaker 2: of symptoms might occur. So it's a serious disease and

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Speaker 2: particularly for people who have risk factors, with diabetes being

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Speaker 2: top of that list for risk factors. So it's it's

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Speaker 2: a disease that people living at the top end have

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Speaker 2: to be aware of, and particularly at this time of

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Speaker 2: the year when we're getting new residents and visitors, visitors

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Speaker 2: from down south off and older relatives sometimes who might

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Speaker 2: have respectors and vicky.

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Speaker 1: How how does it spread exactly?

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Speaker 2: Well, it gains entrance into our bodies mainly by cuts

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Speaker 2: and sowres. So a really important message is to you know,

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Speaker 2: avoid getting cuts and sores and avoid having those in

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Speaker 2: contact with surface or mud. So that's the main way

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Speaker 2: and the main prevention there is to protect your skin.

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Speaker 2: So if you're doing manual work or working in the garden,

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Speaker 2: you know, wear gloves, don't get cuts and scrutches. If

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Speaker 2: you're working in other industry and you know, make sure

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Speaker 2: you're wearing proper shoes, and we encourage all people to

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Speaker 2: be wearing shoes, you know, as often as possible, just

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Speaker 2: to keep your feet intact. But the other is also

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Speaker 2: it can be aero slized. So if you think of

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Speaker 2: all those the winds out there and whipping across waters

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Speaker 2: and puddles, and just the wind in on the soil,

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Speaker 2: we know that you can breathe in the bacteria as well.

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Speaker 2: So we do encourage people who have risk factors not

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Speaker 2: to go out in the really windy, wet conditions. And

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Speaker 2: also if people are using high pressure hoses, they should

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Speaker 2: be wearing face masks, which we've become very familiar.

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Speaker 1: You're with me, yeah, and VICKI, how how many cases

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Speaker 1: have we had? I guess so far? You know, v

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Speaker 1: year have we had? How many cases have we had?

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Speaker 2: Well, actually, we're already up to fifty, which is built

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Speaker 2: a lot because we're only you know, just in approaching

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Speaker 2: halfway you know, through the wet season, and we usually

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Speaker 2: get about fifty in a seven month period. So we

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Speaker 2: already have fifty. We're about three times the expected number

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Speaker 2: by this time of year. And so it is, you know,

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Speaker 2: we certainly are seeing the effects of the continual rains

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Speaker 2: we had through December, the effects we had from Cyclone Ellie,

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Speaker 2: and then just continue We look out the window now

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Speaker 2: and know that we're getting pretty substantial rain. So these

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Speaker 2: are you know, this is the the weather conditions that

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Speaker 2: lead to having more cases of melioid, And we just

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Speaker 2: want people to be aware and particularly new residents who

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Speaker 2: might not have heard of this disease.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well it is one of those things, isn't it

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Speaker 1: up here in the tropics. Is there's a number of

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Speaker 1: different illnesses and diseases you know, I really aren't prevalent

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Speaker 1: in other parts of Australia. And unless you unless you've

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Speaker 1: lived here for a year, unless you've sort of been

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Speaker 1: here for a wet season, it is quite often that

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Speaker 1: you just sort of aren't aware of them.

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Speaker 2: No, that's right, and so as we want, I guess

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Speaker 2: clinicians to be aware and to be telling their new

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Speaker 2: patients and new residents about these diseases. So it is

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Speaker 2: people who have conditions that decrease their ability to fight

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Speaker 2: off infection, and those diseases are diabetes. As I said,

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Speaker 2: this is the most overwhelmingly the most common. People who

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Speaker 2: have hazardous alcohol intake, people on chronic with chronic kidney disease,

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Speaker 2: and particularly those who are on dialysis, People with chronic

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Speaker 2: lung disease like chronic obstructive lung disease or brunchie ECTORCIS

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Speaker 2: and other people who might be on sets, suppress their

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Speaker 2: immune system or have malignancies, so that group of people

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Speaker 2: are particularly at risk and should be certainly aware of

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Speaker 2: this disease in our environment or the specteria the cost disease,

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Speaker 2: and you.

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Speaker 1: Did touch on this, but you know, the reality here

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Speaker 1: is this is actually very serious and it can be fatal.

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Speaker 1: I understand that we've already lost one life this year

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Speaker 1: to milliadises.

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Speaker 2: Well actually in the wet season because we sort of

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Speaker 2: counted from when the wet season which we arbitrarily make

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Speaker 2: at one October, So from October last year till now

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Speaker 2: we have had four deaths from meleodosis and three at

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Speaker 2: the end of last year and one already this year.

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Speaker 2: So yes, it is a very serious disease, somewhere between

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Speaker 2: five and fifteen percent mortality rate. So you absolutely something

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Speaker 2: we want people to be aware of and try to avoid.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, VICKI just very quickly, you know, to those out

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Speaker 1: there listening, if lo what are the signs? So what

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Speaker 1: should what should you be looking out for? Just reiterated

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Speaker 1: again for us, you know, and and saying to your

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Speaker 1: GP or saying when you go into an emergency, if

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Speaker 1: you are at the point where you feel as though

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Speaker 1: you are you know where you've contracted millia dises well.

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Speaker 2: As I said, the most common presentation is actually pneumonia,

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Speaker 2: so that's presenting with you know, shortness of breath, fever

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Speaker 2: and a cough. But it can affect abscesses in different

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Speaker 2: places like your bones and your joints, and for men

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Speaker 2: it affects the process so on you know, problems passing

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Speaker 2: water and also if you have abscesses or swords in

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Speaker 2: your skin that don't heal. So if you have something

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Speaker 2: that's not healing after a week or two, you absolutely

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Speaker 2: should have that looked at by a clinician and have

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Speaker 2: it swabbed. And if you feel that you've been out

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Speaker 2: in you know your work or your activities take you

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Speaker 2: to working with turf, it's water or mud, or you

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Speaker 2: know that with recreational activities, you've been in that situation.

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Speaker 2: Make sure that you tell your doctor about that as well,

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Speaker 2: and what happens.

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Speaker 1: Like what happens if you go untreated.

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Speaker 2: Well untreated, it is a very serious disease and ICU

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Speaker 2: is very commonly the place that people with stepsis with

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Speaker 2: meleo dosis end up where they end up and as

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Speaker 2: I said, death in five to fifteen percent of the

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Speaker 2: cases that we see in the territory. So you know,

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Speaker 2: the sooner you get in, the sooner you make a

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Speaker 2: clinician aware of maybe your suspicion. But also we also

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Speaker 2: put out alerts to clinicians all during this time period

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Speaker 2: to make them aware. Again, people come up who have

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Speaker 2: trained down South who haven't heard necessarily about melo dosis,

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Speaker 2: so making sure our clinicians are aware is also important.

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Speaker 2: So yeah, I think all the awareness of the public,

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Speaker 2: awareness of our clinicians is really important.

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Speaker 1: It really is. Well, doctor Vicky Krauss, the director of

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Speaker 1: the Center for Disease Control, We always appreciate your time.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much for joining us this morning.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you,