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The World Health Organisation resolution for global action to tackle rheumatic heart disease (RHD) will have significant implications for Australia, which has some of the highest rates of the disease in the world.
It's been a huge year for those working to eliminate rheumatic heart disease (RHD), with breakthroughs including $35M in funding to develop a Strep A vaccine.
When Katrina took her daughter Tenaya to the local emergency department for the fourth time, she was determined she wouldn’t be leaving without answers.
Instant diagnosis and treatment of potentially life-threatening Strep A infections is now very close to reality across Australia’s remote and regional areas thanks to molecular point-of-care testing (POCT) that slashes result times from five days to just minutes.
New research has revealed that molecular point-of-care testing (POCT) can significantly improve detection of Group A Streptococcal (Strep A) pharyngitis compared to laboratory culture – particularly in remote communities, where results can take up to seven days – unlocking a major opportunity to prevent rheumatic
Children at risk of potentially life-threatening Strep A infections no longer have to wait five days for timely treatment, thanks to a The Kids Research Institute Australia study conducted in the remote Kimberley region of Western Australia.
After being diagnosed with rheumatic heart disease at ten, Elizabeth had to leave country and her family for a large chunk of her childhood so she could be treated in Adelaide.
When Liana complained of a sore foot and showed signs of a fever, her mum Margie rushed her to hospital. An X-ray of her foot revealed no obvious injury, so she was sent home and advised to take painkillers.
Honorary
Dr Janessa Pickering is a research microbiologist with expertise in the molecular diagnostics and host pathogen interactions of upper respiratory tract pathogens that cause disease in children.