Clinical Manifestations and Genomic Evaluation of Melioidosis Outbreak among Children after Sporting Event, Australia.

Melioidosis, caused by the environmental gram-negative bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei, usually develops in adults with predisposing conditions and in Australia more commonly occurs during the monsoonal wet season. We report an outbreak of 7 cases of melioidosis in immunocompetent children in Australia. All the children had participated in a single-day sporting event during the dry season in a tropical region of Australia, and all had limited cutaneous disease.

Public health response to an outbreak of meningococcal B disease in a secondary school in Far North Queensland.

This article describes the public health response to an outbreak of meningococcal B disease, linked to a secondary school in Far North Queensland. Tropical Public Health Services in Cairns were notified of three cases of meningococcal disease in the same week in May 2022. The cases occurred in individuals who all attended, or worked in, the same secondary school.

Undetected serovars: leptospirosis cases in the Cairns region during the 2021 wet season.

Background: Leptospirosis infection can lead to serious renal and cardiopulmonary complications and can be fatal. Following heavy rainfall and localised flooding in early 2021, Tropical Public Health Services in Cairns were alerted to an increase in leptospirosis cases in the region, with notifications almost three times higher than usual by mid-February. An epidemiological investigation was undertaken.

Limited Awareness of Melioidosis in High-risk Populations Despite an Increasing Incidence of the Disease in Far North Queensland, Australia.

The incidence of melioidosis, an opportunistic infection caused by Burkholderia pseudomallei, has recently doubled in Far North Queensland (FNQ), Australia. This contrasts with the local burden of dengue, which is nearing elimination, and the stable incidence of leptospirosis. This questionnaire-based study assessed the awareness of melioidosis among people in FNQ with risk factors for the disease, using awareness of leptospirosis and dengue as comparators.

A complex increase in hepatitis C virus in a correctional facility: bumps in the road.

Objective: The prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in correctional facilities in Australia among people who inject drugs is 60%, with disproportionate effects observed in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Following the micro-elimination of HCV in a Queensland correctional facility (QCF), newly acquired cases began to increase in mid-2019. Here we discuss the public health response to increasing HCV in a QCF.

The epidemiology and outcomes of central nervous system infections in Far North Queensland, tropical Australia; 2000-2019.

Background: The epidemiology of central nervous system (CNS) infections in tropical Australia is incompletely defined.

Methods: A retrospective study of all individuals in Far North Queensland, tropical Australia, who were diagnosed with a CNS infection between January 1, 2000, and December 31, 2019. The microbiological aetiology of the infection was correlated with patients' demographic characteristics and their clinical course.

Was infectious syphilis being misclassified in remote Australian outbreaks? Evidence that informed modification of the national case definition.

Objective: To assess the ability of the national case definition to identify infectious syphilis during an outbreak affecting predominantly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in a remote Australian region.

Methods: A retrospective case series study of all non-congenital syphilis cases in the region notified between 1 January 2009 and 31 December 2012 was performed. The national infectious syphilis case definition was compared with an expanded case definition derived from experienced clinician assessment and the definition proposed in the Interim Guidelines for the Public Health Management of Syphilis Outbreaks in Remote Populations in Australia from the Communicable Diseases Network Australia (CDNA).

Chronic hepatitis B--care delivery and patient knowledge in the Torres Strait region of Australia.

Background: Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) disproportionately affects Indigenous Australians. This article reports the findings of two studies in the Torres Strait and Northern Peninsula area (T&NPA) of Queensland in Australia. The aim of the first study was to assess CHB care delivery, the second assessed CHB patient knowledge about the condition.

An outbreak of Plasmodium falciparum malaria in the Torres Strait.

This report describes the largest outbreak of Plasmodium falciparum malaria in the Torres Strait for more than 25 years. It details factors that may have contributed to the outbreak, the public health response and implications for the broader region. Eight cases of locally-acquired falciparum malaria occurred on Saibai and Dauan islands during March and April 2011.

The role of support person for Ngaanyatjarra women during pregnancy and birth.

Background: This study took place in a remote community on the Ngaanyatjarra Lands, Western Australia. Ngaanyatjarra women's cultural practices have been subject to erosion during the past 70 years. Women are now expected to birth hundreds of kilometres from home and, due to financial barriers, without family support.

Trends in the incidence of treated end-stage kidney disease among Indigenous Australians and access to treatment.

Objective: To determine temporal trends of incidence of treated end-stage kidney disease in Indigenous Australians and the extent to which these patients had to move from their home community to access renal replacement therapy.

Methods: Data for 1993-2001, regarding place of residence before starting renal replacement therapy, were analysed to give accurate incidence for 1,194 Indigenous treated end-stage kidney disease patients. We calculated indirectly standardised incidence ratios of treated end-stage kidney disease by State and Territory.