Investigators
Anita Williams, Chris Blyth, Anthony Kicic, Anita Campbell, Jeff Cannon, Dan Yeoh and Zoy Goff
Project description
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a naturally occurring phenomenon in bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites, where organisms become resistant to drugs used to treat them. AMR is a rapidly growing challenge and has been identified as one of the World Health Organizations top 10 global health threats, with the potential to undo many of the health gains observed over the last century.
AMR is associated with longer time in hospital, prolonged antibiotic treatments, and poorer outcomes. However, there are a lack of data on the impact of resistance infection on children and their families and cost to the healthcare system and community. In Australia, the brunt of AMR is felt by vulnerable populations including newborns, Aboriginal children, children with chronic medical conditions, and those from migrant or refugee backgrounds.
New solutions must be developed and rapidly implemented to slow or halt AMR. To do this, we must know how many children develop resistant, difficult to treat infections in Western Australia. We need to measure the impact of resistant infections on the healthcare systems as well as on children themselves, their families, and their support systems.
In this study, we will compare the clinical characteristics and healthcare costs of children with resistant infections and compare these to children with a non-resistant infection and also to healthy children. The cost of infections will include length of stay, number of drugs given, and additional interventions required because of the resistant infection.
From these results, we can determine where it is best to spend money on tackling AMR.
Funders
This project has received funding through the Wesfarmers Centre for Vaccine and Infectious Diseases (WCVID) Catalyst Grant Scheme for 2023.