Search
Congratulations to four outstanding early-career researchers from The Kids Research Institute Australia, who have been awarded BrightSpark Foundation fellowships and project funding for 2026.
Aboriginal families across Western Australia are being equipped with the knowledge to take early action against potentially life-threatening skin infections thanks to the launch of a Strong Skin phone app.
The Staphylococcus aureus Network Adaptive Platform (SNAP) trial is a multifactorial Bayesian adaptive platform trial that aims to improve the way that S. aureus bloodstream infection, a globally common and severe infectious disease, is treated. In a world first, the SNAP trial will simultaneously investigate the effects of multiple intervention modalities within multiple groups of participants with different forms of S. aureus bloodstream infection.
Combination antibiotic therapy with an antitoxin agent, such as clindamycin, is included in some guidelines for severe, toxin-mediated Staphylococcus aureus infections. The evidence to support this practice is currently limited to in vitro, animal and observational human case-series data, with no previous randomized controlled trials (RCTs).
Debbie Susan Palmer Prescott BSc BND PhD MBBS BMedSci PhD FRACP Head, Nutrition in Early Life Honorary Research Fellow debbie.palmer@uwa.edu.au
The suboptimal sensitivity and specificity of available diagnostic methods for scabies hampers clinical management, trials of new therapies and epidemiologic studies. Additionally, parasitologic diagnosis by microscopic examination of skin scrapings requires sample collection with a sharp scalpel blade, causing discomfort to patients and difficulty in children. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based diagnostic assays, combined with non-invasive sampling methods, represent an attractive approach.
These data highlight the importance of recognising Sporotrichosis in children outside an outbreak setting
The Australian National Healthy Skin Guideline summarises evidence-based treatment of impetigo, scabies and fungal infections in high burden settings
Skin infections are an under-appreciated and dominant reason for presentation to primary healthcare centres in these indigenous communities
The The Kids Skin Health team has a busy six weeks ahead - visiting nine communities throughout the Kimberley region of WA as part of the first school surveillance activities for the SToP Trial.