SToPPING ARF
Partners: Apunipima Cape York Health Council, Mulungu Aboriginal Corporation Primary Healthcare Service, Roche Diagnostics, Aboriginal Investment Group
Roche Diagnostics National Reconciliation Week. L to R: Dr Andrew Goodman, Amanda Gourley, Vicki Wade, Phil Siew, Professor Ray Mahoney.
Acute rheumatic fever (ARF) is an inflammatory disease that follows untreated or recurrent Group A Streptococcus (GAS) infection. Untreated ARF is known to permanently damage the heart valves in a condition called rheumatic heart disease (RHD). Although ARF and RHD are entirely preventable diseases they persist almost exclusively in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities due to continued high rates of GAS exposure.
Through a combination of activities funded via H&B Indigenous Appropriation, one primordial and one primary prevention, this project aims to reduce GAS exposure, untreated infections and subsequently ARF and RHD in remote Indigenous communities.
The gold standard for diagnosis of GAS Infections is by bacterial culture at a lab. However, as most infections occur in rural and remote settings, transporting patient samples to labs that are many hours away makes testing difficult and means it is rarely utilised. As a result, suspected GAS infections are usually treated with the extremely painful penicillin (BPG) injection. CSIRO is leading this research project partnering with Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations to trial the TGA approved Roche Diagnostics cobas Liat Point of Care Test (PoCT) that can detect GAS in a throat sample in just 15 minutes. In addition, CSIRO will be conducting a clinical trial that will test the effectiveness of this PoCT to detect GAS in a skin sample, whilst also forming the first comprehensive (i.e. pharyngitis and impetigo) GAS infection prevalence study in Northern Australia.
For more information about ARF/RHD and our projects, please view the information sheet below.
For more information about this project, please contact:
