Publications by authors named "D J Speers"
Article Synopsis
- - The Australian Pathogen Genomics Program (AusPathoGen) was launched in January 2021 as a national partnership aimed at enhancing public health through pathogen genomics surveillance.
- - Successful implementation of this program relies on collaboration among academia, public health labs, and agencies, while prioritizing public health needs and building national genomics capacity.
- - Key components for success include data integration tools like AusTrakka, standardized bioinformatics procedures, ethics agreements, and training for public health officials to effectively use genomic data.
Article Synopsis
- A national program integrated molecular point-of-care (POC) testing for chlamydia, gonorrhoea, and trichomonas in 49 primary care clinics in Australia to improve diagnostic access and treatment speed for First Nations peoples.
- Between 2016 and 2022, the program showed a significant increase in monthly testing, and treated a higher percentage of patients within two to seven days compared to previous practices, resulting in thousands of infectious days averted.
- The evaluation revealed high test concordance rates and low failure rates, indicating that the POC testing was effective and of high quality, contributing to both individual health benefits and potentially reducing disease transmission in First Nations communities.
Article Synopsis
- Invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) rates surged in Australia from 2014 to 2017, largely due to rising infections from serogroups W and Y, prompting a study on genetic diversity in 2017 and 2018 using whole genome sequencing.
- The study analyzed 440 Australian IMD isolates and 1737 international MenW:CC11 isolates, revealing that MenW, MenB, and MenY were the most common serogroups and identified 18 clonal complexes, with three (CC11, CC23, CC41/44) making up 78% of the isolates.
- Findings showed that while MenB isolates were highly diverse, MenW and MenC were less
infection (CDI) remains a significant public health threat globally. New interventions to treat CDI rely on an understanding of the evolution and epidemiology of circulating strains. Here we provide longitudinal genomic data on strain diversity, transmission dynamics and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) of ribotypes (RTs) 014/020 (=169), 002 (=77) and 056 (=36), the three most prominent strains causing CDI in Australia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThree mother-baby pairs with invasive meningococcal disease occurred over 7 months in Western Australia, Australia, at a time when serogroup W sequence type 11 clonal complex was the predominant local strain. One mother and 2 neonates died, highlighting the role of this strain as a cause of obstetric and early neonatal death.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF