Preparing for a pandemic
Is Australia any closer to establishing a centre for communicable disease control to respond to bird flu and other outbreaks?
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infectious diseases
The following articles have the tag infectious diseases
Urgent restock of flu vaccines
EMERGENCY stock of seasonal influenza vaccine, bought to cope with a national shortage sparked by unprecedented demand, is expected to be available in Australia in two weeks.
A healthy world without inequality
THE social determinants of health have long predicted poorer morbidity and mortality for the marginalised and those on lower incomes.
Manly’s secret business
MANLY'S former Quarantine Station offers a fascinating glimpse into our immigration history.
Concern over zoonotic disease
Ecological and social changes around the world that allow emergence of novel infectious diseases are increasing at an unprecedented rate, experts warn.
First cases of multidrug-resistant HIV reported in Australia
SYDNEY doctors have reported the first two cases of multidrug-resistant HIV in Australia. While 10-15% of HIV infections in Australia are drug resistant, most are resistant to only one class of antiretroviral, usually nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors. But there are now 13 published cases worldwide of infections resistant to all three classes of antiretroviral therapy, the latest two of which are in Australia. The two cases had almost identical resistance genotypes, doctors from the immunology and infectious diseases unit at St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney, reported. It is believed the first patient infected the second, who was diagnosed ...
First cases of multidrug-resistant HIV reported in Australia
SYDNEY doctors have reported the first two cases of multidrug-resistant HIV in Australia. While 10-15% of HIV infections in Australia are drug resistant, most are resistant to only one class of antiretroviral, usually nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors. But there are now 13 published cases worldwide of infections resistant to all three classes of antiretroviral therapy, the latest two of which are in Australia. The two cases had almost identical resistance genotypes, doctors from the immunology and infectious diseases unit at St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney, reported. It is believed the first patient infected the second, who was diagnosed ...
Outbreak ‘flying squad’ lost with axed course
AUSTRALIA is set to lose vital capacity for detection and control of infectious diseases, with the Commonwealth scrapping a key tertiary scholarship program, an eminent epidemiologist says. Emeritus Professor Bob Douglas said the demise of the Master of Applied Epidemiology (MAE) program based at the Australian National University meant losing a “flying squad” of experts who had played leading roles in combating disease threats such as SARS and swine flu. Professor Douglas, founding director of ANU’s National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health and now retired, said a review of the MAE program earlier this year recommended ...
Rise in heterosexual spread of HIV reignites circumcision debate
AUSTRALIA should recommend routine circumcision as the cornerstone of strategies to prevent rising heterosexual transmission of HIV, public health experts say. According to the 2009 Annual Surveillance Report on HIV/AIDS, newly diagnosed cases resulting from heterosexual contact have steadily increased from 9% in 1999 to 27% in 2008, prompting a call to address the problem. In a recent editorial in the MJA, three experts say the Royal Australasian College of Physicians’ (RACP) policy on infant male circumcision is the major obstacle to boosting circumcision. The editorial was written by Professor David Cooper, director of the National ...
Nine divisions risk measles outbreak
WHILE most of Australia will likely keep measles at bay over the next decade and more, the potential for outbreaks is growing in nine divisions of general practice, modelling shows. Sydney researcher Dr James Woods (PhD) has found pockets, mainly in NSW, where poor immunisation coverage coupled with waning immunity may put communities at risk. The modelling, based on serological data and vaccination rates, was “reassuring” for most of Australia, said Dr Woods, senior lecturer in the University of NSW School of Public Health and Community Medicine. However, in a handful of areas, there was the ...
It’s back: severe swine flu cases reported
THE H1N1 (swine) flu strain appears to be having a resurgence, with several intensive care admissions in four states and two confirmed deaths in Western Australia. Health authorities are recommending GPs step up efforts to vaccinate patients as the winter flu season intensifies, with pregnant women already prominent among severe cases. NSW Health Communicable Diseases Branch director Dr Jeremy McAnulty said eight severe flu cases were reported in the state in the last weeks of July, with two of the four females being pregnant. “Monitoring is indicating that while influenza activity is still at reasonably low ...
Meningococcal C still a risk to youth even after vaccination
MOST Australian adolescents may be susceptible to meningococcal C (MenC) disease, despite childhood vaccination, researchers warn. A trial conducted in the UK to establish antibody persistence after vaccination with the MenC conjugate vaccine has raised questions about waning immunity. The Australian and British researchers found that the majority of six- to 12-year-olds in the UK, where children receive three shots in infancy, would have inadequate serological protection. In Australia, where children received a single dose of MenC vaccine at 12 months of age, the data suggested only a quarter may remain protected by the age of ...
Review finds antiviral drugs safe in children with influenza
GPs should have no concerns about prescribing antiviral therapy for children and infants who have the potential to become extremely ill with influenza, according to a leading researcher. Professor Robert Booy, head of clinical research at the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance (NCIRS), Sydney, said a new Australian review showed oseltamivir was well-tolerated in young children. The NCIRS examined its use in light of widespread publicity given to a meta-analysis last year on the use of neuraminidase inhibitors in children with seasonal influenza (BMJ 2009;339:b3172). The meta-analysis, which included only two studies on oseltamivir, ...
Individual patients at risk of resistance after antibiotic script
ROUTINE antibiotic use not only contributes to community-wide antibiotic resistance, it also results in resistance to bacteria at an individual patient level. A systematic review of prescribing in primary care found that patients given antibiotics were more than twice as likely to experience subsequent urinary tract and respiratory infections caused by resistant pathogens. And this resistance, which was more common with an increased number and duration of courses, could often last up to a year. The UK researchers, themselves GPs, suggested clinicians were aware of the problem of antibiotic resistance but considered it a population-level issue that ...
Individual patients at risk of resistance after antibiotic script
ROUTINE antibiotic use not only contributes to community-wide antibiotic resistance, it also results in resistance to bacteria at an individual patient level. A systematic review of prescribing in primary care found that patients given antibiotics were more than twice as likely to experience subsequent urinary tract and respiratory infections caused by resistant pathogens. And this resistance, which was more common with an increased number and duration of courses, could often last up to a year. The UK researchers, themselves GPs, suggested clinicians were aware of the problem of antibiotic resistance but considered it a population-level issue that did not ...
Rise in oral cancers adds weight to HPV vax for boys
THE debate over extending HPV vaccination to males is set to reignite, after Australian research revealed the virus was responsible for an increasing number of oropharyngeal cancers. The rate of HPV positive oropharyngeal cancer cases had more than tripled from 19% in 1987-90 to 66% in 2005-06, the authors in the Department of Health-funded study found. Around 475 new cases of oropharyngeal cancer were diagnosed in Australia each year from 2001 to 2005 and the number was increasing, they said. Smaller numbers of cancers at other sites, such as the larynx, were also HPV-related, the authors ...
Leptospirosis an additional hazard for adventure seekers
THE recent growth of adventure and “eco” travel means that agricultural workers are no longer the only population group in Australia at risk from leptospirosis, experts say. More than a third of cases reported to the WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Leptospirosis in Brisbane in 2008 were related to international travel or recreation, suggesting leptospirosis was no longer a largely occupational disease, researchers said. Cases acquired internationally were linked to travel in Asia, the Pacific Islands or South America. Leptospirosis, a common bacterial zoonosis, is contracted through contact with animals (primarily rodents or ...
H1N1 Rates in UK kids higher than estimates
The proportion of UK children infected with H1N1 influenza during the first pandemic wave was 10 times higher than clinical surveillance estimates. The UK Health Protection Agency collected 1403 serum samples prior to the H1N1 epidemic in 2008 and 1954 samples in September 2009 from patients presenting to GPs. After calculating age-specific H1N1 immunity profiles, researchers found H1N1 infection rates were highest in children 15 years of age or younger, with 32% of school children infected in London compared with 20% in the 20-24 age bracket. Clinical surveillance estimates failed to capture H1N1 influenza cases ...