Sydney, Feb. 21 -- Authorities in the Australian state of Queensland have reported a fifth death from melioidosis linked to heavy rainfall.
An elderly person from the city of Townsville, over 1,000 km northwest of Brisbane, has become the fifth person in the state's tropical northern region to die of melioidosis in the current wet season, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) quoted Queensland Health as saying on Friday.
Melioidosis is a rare tropical disease associated with the wet season that is spread through contact with contaminated water, soil and air.
Townsville and its surrounding regions were hit by catastrophic damaging flooding earlier in February.
Queensland Health on Feb. 12 said that there had been two deaths from ...