Australia : Killer soil disease attacks MP's husband

Via NT News :

" THE HUSBAND of Federal MP Natasha Griggs is in hospital with the killer tropical disease melioidosis.

"Pretty scary stuff," she said in a tweet on social networking site Twitter.

"GP told my husband you have Melioidosis go straight to the hospital. Looks like a few days in Darwin Hospital for him."

A Territory man recently died from the soil-borne disease, which comes out when it rains.

As of the first week of January, 18 people had contracted the infection, also known as Nightcliff Gardener's Disease, 16 of them from Darwin.

Centre for Disease Control director Vicki Krause has said contact with mud, groundwater and soil during the Wet increased the likelihood of exposure to the bacterium."