Former rugby player Sam Backo is hospitalized with melioidosis, a serious tropical infection, after recent heart surgery.
Former Maroons prop Sam Backo is fighting for his life in a Cairns Hospital after contracting a potentially deadly tropical infection.
The ABC reports Backo was diagnosed with melioidosis, a soil-borne tropical disease, in April and was admitted to hospital where he remains in an intensive care unit.
It comes just two years after he survived a major heart attack and was required to undergo surgery for a quadruple bypass.