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This work will be undertaken in collaboration with The Kids Research Institute Australia and Australian based research teams to better understand how Penicillin works in Māori and Pacific children/teens who receive monthly BPG injections.
Goal: Characterize the pattern of contemporary and endemic ARF and develop a biological signature to improve sensitivity and specificity of ARF diagnosis.
Building on the foundation of the first RHD forum, over 150 interested participants met to discuss critical issues on the RHD landscape.
Sensitivity and positive predictive value of cardiac auscultation compared with echocardiography is poor, regardless of the expertise of the auscultator.
The reduction in ARF recurrence indicates that the RHD control program has improved secondary prophylaxis; a decline in RHD incidence is expected to follow.
Group A Streptococcus (GAS) M protein is an important virulence factor and potential vaccine antigen, and constitutes the basis for strain typing (emm-typing).
Vaccine prevention of GAS infections and their immunological complications has been a goal of researchers for decades.
The desire for an effective vaccine arises from the large burden of disease caused by the bacterium, particularly rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease.
Acute rheumatic fever (ARF) and rheumatic heart disease (RHD) occur at very high rates among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Urinary tract infection (UTI) is common in children, causes them considerable discomfort, as well as distress to parents and has a tendency to recur.