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Volume 27, Number 12—December 2021
Dispatch

Increased Incidence of Melioidosis in Far North Queensland, Queensland, Australia, 1998–2019

Simon SmithComments to Author , Peter Horne, Sally Rubenach, Richard Gair, James Stewart, Lee Fairhead, and Josh Hanson
Author affiliations: Cairns Hospital, Cairns, Queensland, Australia (S. Smith, J. Stewart, L. Fairhead, J. Hanson); Tropical Public Health Services, Cairns (P. Horne, S. Rubenach, R. Gair); University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (J. Hanson)

Main Article

Table 2

Incidence, predisposing conditions, and outcomes of melioidosis cases near Cairns, Queensland, Australia, January 1998–December 2019

Variable 1998–2002 2003–2007 2008–2011 2012–2015 2016–2019 p value*
Cairns area population, mean 200,351 206,342 228,504 243,389 253,841 <0.001
No. cases 6 9 4 25 67 <0.001
Annual incidence, cases/100,000 population, mean (95% CI) 0.6 (0.1–1.1) 0.9 (0.1–1.6) 0.4 (0–0.9) 2.5 (0–5.8) 6.6 (3.0–10.2) <0.001
Age, y, median (interquartile range)
 45 (30–62)
 65 (55–69)
 49 (39–58)
 56 (43–66)
 56 (49–66)
 0.56
Predisposing condition, %
Any† 100 89 75 84 87 0.38
Diabetes mellitus 67 44 50 40 47 0.69
Hazardous alcohol use 67 22 75 40 28 0.046
Chronic lung disease 0 22 25 24 18 0.86
Chronic kidney disease 17 22 0 32 18 0.99
Immunosuppression
 33
 44
 0
 24
 19
 0.25
Bacteremia, %
 67
 100
 100
 84
 72
 0.18
Case-fatality rate, % 0 33 0 8 10 0.60

*p value for trend value calculated using annual data with year as a continuous variable †Limited access to charts is likely to result in incomplete documentation of risk factors from early in the study period.

Main Article

Page created: October 06, 2021
Page updated: November 19, 2021
Page reviewed: November 19, 2021
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