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Research

Acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease disproportionately affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia, with devastating impacts on morbidity, mortality and community wellbeing. Research suggests that general practitioners and primary care staff perceive insurmountable barriers to improving clinical outcomes, including the need for systemic change outside their scope of practice.

Research

Valvular heart disease is a major contributor to loss of physical function, quality of life and longevity. The epidemiology of VHD varies substantially around the world, with a predominance of functional and degenerative disease in high-income countries, and a predominance of rheumatic heart disease in low-income and middle-income countries. Reflecting this distribution, rheumatic heart disease remains by far the most common manifestation of VHD worldwide and affects approximately 41 million people.

Research

Jonathan Carapetis AM JR AM MBBS FRACP FAFPHM PhD FAHMS Executive Director; Co-Head, Strep A Translation; Co-Founder of REACH 08 6319 1000 contact@

The END RHD CRE focuses priority research projects that will help achieve the singular target of producing the Endgame Strategy.

News & Events

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.

News & Events

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.

Research

In remote communities of northern Australia, First Nations children with hearing loss are disproportionately at risk of poor school readiness and performance compared to their peers with no hearing loss. The aim of this trial is to prevent early childhood persisting otitis media (OM), associated hearing loss and developmental delay.

Research

Regular intramuscular (i.m.) benzathine penicillin G (BPG) injections have been the cornerstone of rheumatic heart disease (RHD) secondary prophylaxis since the 1950s. Patient adherence to IM BPG is poor, largely due to pain, the need for regular injections every 3-4 weeks and health sector delivery challenges in resource-limited settings. There is an urgent need for new approaches for secondary prophylaxis, such as an implant which could provide sustained penicillin concentrations for more than 6 months.

Research

Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) poses significant perinatal risks. We aimed to describe the spectrum, severity and outcomes of rheumatic mitral valve disease in pregnancy in Australia and New Zealand.

Research

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia have an inequitable burden of acute rheumatic fever (ARF) and rheumatic heart disease (RHD), concentrated among young people and necessitating ongoing medical care during adolescence. There is an unmet need for improved well-being and support for these young people to complement current biomedical management.