Researchers at Perth’s The Kids Research Institute Australia and Darwin’s Menzies School of Health Research will lead a broad international collaborative project to develop a diagnostic tool for acute rheumatic fever (ARF). This tool will be critical in preventing rheumatic heart disease (RHD) – a life-threatening condition that disproportionately affects Indigenous Australians and begins as ARF.
The $2.1m grant from the National Health and Medical Research Council was announced today by Aged Care Minister and Indigenous Health Minister Ken Wyatt.
Led by Institute Director Professor Jonathan Carapetis, who also heads the END RHD Centre of Research Excellence (END RHD CRE), the new study will use cutting edge technology to test samples from people with ARF, looking for combinations of markers that could turn into a diagnostic test and allow preventative treatment to take place before the condition worsens.
“RHD is the most common cardiovascular disease in children and young adults globally, and in Australia it is arguably the starkest example of the health gap between young Indigenous and non-Indigenous people,” said Professor Carapetis.
“There are currently close to 3000 people with ARF or RHD registered in the Northern Territory, and young Indigenous Australians in the Territory are up to 122 times more likely to have RHD than their non-Indigenous counterparts. It is caused by a bacterial infection of the throat and skin, which, without treatment with antibiotics, can result in heart failure and other complications including stroke.
“We have found that up to 50 per cent of Indigenous patients already have established RHD at their first diagnosis, and this is because earlier episodes of ARF were missed. One of the reasons is that the diagnosis can be difficult to make, so a diagnostic test would be a real breakthrough.
“Catching RHD in the early stages is essential as the consequences have major long-terms effects; children must travel for heart surgery; young adults live with premature disability; and pregnant women face high-risk pregnancies. If we can diagnose it at its earliest stages, at the first episode of ARF, then prevention treatment with penicillin can be started, which can stop RHD developing or worsening,” said Professor Carapetis.
“The 2016 Australian Medical Association Indigenous Health Report Card issued a call to action to prevent new cases of RHD by 2031 – a new diagnostic tool should help us achieve that goal and put us on a path to eliminate the disease in Australia once and for all.”
The collaborative study involves researchers from around Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, with the majority of study participants recruited from Darwin and Alice Springs.
For more information about RHD and the END RHD CRE, please visit endrhd.telethonkids.org.au