Hope for vaccine amid fears disease found in suburban gardens could be a biological weapon

A Townsville microbiologist has found proteins that trigger an immune response to melioidosis.  (ABC North Qld: Nathalie Fernbach)

North Queensland scientists have made a major breakthrough in the hunt for a vaccine for a deadly disease linked to suburban gardens. 

Melioidosis is prevalent in northern parts of Australia and is linked to direct contact with contaminated soil or water.

Each year about 20 people in northern parts of Australia are diagnosed with the disease and, of those, one in five cases are fatal. The disease has also been found in parts of southern Queensland.

In a major breakthrough, Townsville microbiologist Dr Robert Norton has found proteins that illicit an immune response to melioidosis.

"These may be useful for vaccine candidates and early diagnosis," he said.

The proteins have been harvested and sent to a research team in Hawaii that has been given $US3 million by the US Department of Defence to advance the study.

"There has been a lot of interest, worldwide, and particularly from the United States in developing a vaccine against melioidosis," Dr Norton said.

Townsville microbiologist Dr Robert Norton specialises in the research and treatment of melioidosis.  (ABC North Qld: Nathalie Fernbach)

Bioterrorism is the use of an infectious agent or other substance — such as anthrax — as a weapon of terrorism.

Dr Norton said the mortality rate and serious illness caused by melioidosis made it a disease of particular concern.

"It kills one in five people in Australia and up to 70 per cent of people in parts of South-East Asia," he said.

While the majority of melioidosis patients survive, the disease is debilitating, leaving many in intensive care.

Townsville man Barry Maxwell was diagnosed with melioidosis in January this year, days after he began struggling to go to the bathroom and suffering from fevers.

Barry Maxwell spent three weeks in hospital, on oxygen and requiring surgery, as a result of contracting melioidosis. (ABC North Qld: Nathalie Fernbach)

"It's been a long battle and I still get very tired and don't have much energy."

Doctors suspect that Barry contracted melioidosis when gardening at home.

After having to be put on oxygen and requiring surgery, he said he had lost his green thumb.

"I have lost my enthusiasm for the garden after getting this disease."

At the Townsville Hospital and Health Service, Dr Norton will use the proteins to continue research for earlier diagnosis of melioidosis. 

He will continue to collaborate with his colleagues in Hawaii.