"In past years around 10 per cent of infections have been fatal, even with the best medical care," Top End Health Services director of Disease Control, Dr Vicki Krause said.

Across the Northern Territory's 2019-20 wet season, 45 people presented to hospitals with melioidosis, also known as the 'Darwin Disease'. Tragically, the disease resulted in one death.

Thriving in the wet, melioidosis causes local and generalised infection - often pneumonia - and then, for the especially unlucky, septic shock and death.

It is believed the disease first hit the Australian radar in the late 1940s, infecting sheep in Queensland first. By 1960, the first human case had emerged.

There are between 40 and 90 cases of the soil-borne disease reported in the Northern Territory each year with the majority diagnosed across the Wet Season between October and May, Dr Krause said.

"Skin sores that do not heal should also be investigated for melioidosis," she said.

"Cuts and sores are the perfect entry point for the bacteria to invade the body, but they can also be inhaled when soil gets stirred up by wind.

And while melioidosis most often presents as pneumonia it can affect various parts of the body and can even cause difficulty in passing urine for men.

"Melioidosis can cause a variety of symptoms including fever, cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, abdominal pain, non-healing sores, urinary symptoms and occasionally headache and confusion," Dr Krause said.

"Recent heavy rains and the monsoonal weather expected in the coming weeks have increased the risk of the disease."

Professor Bart Currie, along with Menzies and Royal Darwin Hospital colleagues has been researching melioidosis for over two decades. He describes it as a disease caused by bacteria which live in soil and "appear to have a symbiotic relationship with various plants".

The bacteria 'switch on' and multiplies in the wet season, he says. "These bacteria are then probably brought to the surface by drenching rains recharging the subterranean aquifers, which are underground layers of permeable rock or materials such as soil or silt."

"Burkholderia pseudomallei lives below the soil's surface during the dry season but after heavy rainfall, can be found in surface water and mud and potentially become airborne," he adds.

"It usually enters the body via cuts and sores in the skin or via inhalation of splashes, dust or droplets and, in very rare cases, by ingesting contaminated water."

During the wet season, a number of precautions can be taken, Dr Krause said, including wearing covered waterproof footwear when outdoors, wearing gloves in the garden and covering sores and abrasions with waterproof dressings.

"Stay indoors during heavy wind and rain, and seek medical attention early if concerned," she said.

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