Cairns Hospital infectious disease experts are leading new research into treatment of a potentially deadly tropical infection, while warning local residents of the increased risk as the wet season approaches.
Dr Simon Smith and the team of clinicians and researchers have just published a study looking at the medication used to treat people who contract melioidosis, a bacterial infection spread through contact with contaminated soil, air or water.
It is typically found in tropical areas like Far North Queensland during the wet season.
There have been 39 confirmed cases of melioidosis in the Cairns and Hinterland region so far this year, with an annual average of around 53 cases.
Some of these patients have required treatment in the Intensive Care Unit and tragically a small number have died.
Dr Smith said the study was looking at giving melioidosis patients longer courses of intravenous antibiotics and reducing the amount of oral medication, which can have serious side effects.
‘Anyone who contracts melioidosis requires both types of antibiotics to ensure the infection doesn’t return,’ he said.
‘Unfortunately around 50 per cent of patients suffer side effects from the oral medication and most of them need to stop using them which increases their risk of re-infection.
‘With the wet season approaching we know we will likely see an increase in cases and this type of research is crucial to ensuring patients receive the best care possible.’
White Rock support worker William Misi contracted melioidosis last year and became part of Dr Smith’s study, which is the first randomised control trial involving the infection in Australia.
The 40-year-old said he thought he had ‘man flu’ for several weeks before his condition deteriorated and he was brought to hospital in an ambulance with hallucinations and sharp pain in his liver.
‘I thought someone had hit me with a pole,’ he said.
‘I wasn’t able to move and my wife told me afterwards that I said to her, ‘let me sit here for five minutes before I die’.
‘I take my hat off to Dr Smith and his team, they were right there to answer all my questions. The hospital staff were amazing.’
Mr Misi received a long course of intravenous antibiotics as part of the study and after eight days in hospital was able to be treated at home for almost two months through the Hospital in the Home program. His infection was cured and didn’t return without having to take the long course of oral antibiotics.
With a spate of cases identified on in Cairns’ southern suburbs and possibly being linked to urban expansion being undertaken, Mr Misi said he was aware of two other residents in his neighbourhood block who had also contracted the infection.
He said he still has some ongoing liver pain but is continuing his recovery.
Mr Misi and fellow Cairns infectious diseases specialist Dr Josh Hanson have recently appeared on ABC Radio National podcast series Science Friction which examines significant disease outbreaks or infections which have impacted Australia.