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Western Australia’s first bacteriophage manufacturing facility has been opened in a significant development that brings patients battling antibiotic-resistant infections a step closer to life-saving phage therapy.

Scientific discoveries over the past 30 years mean doctors now have a deeper understanding of what causes disease and how those diseases might progress.

Sports coaches across Australia can now access WA-designed sport resources, which aim to help coaches better understand type 1 diabetes (T1D) and encourage children living with the condition to stay in sport.

A pilot clinical study has found an immunotherapy drug can dramatically increase survival rates for babies with a rare form of leukaemia, paving the way for a major international clinical trial.

Research

Skin conditions most frequently encountered in paediatric practice include infections, infestations, atopic dermatitis, and acne. Skin of colour refers to skin with increased melanin and darker pigmentation, and reflects global racial and ethnic diversity. Managing skin conditions in skin of colour requires health equity nuance, which is rarely explicitly taught. 

Research

Vietnam, as one of the countries in the Greater Mekong Subregion, has committed to eliminating all malaria by 2030. Declining case numbers highlight the country's progress, but challenges including imported cases and pockets of residual transmission remain. To successfully eliminate malaria and to prevent reintroduction of malaria transmission, geostatistical modelling of vulnerability (importation rate) and receptivity (quantified by the reproduction number) of malaria is critical.

Research

Worldwide, tuberculosis (TB) remains the leading cause of death from infectious diseases. Africa is the second most-affected region, accounting for a quarter of the global TB burden, but there is limited evidence whether there is subnational variation of TB prevalence across the continent. Therefore, this study aimed to estimate sub-national and local TB prevalence across Africa.

Research

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing, being and doing have fostered physical, social, and emotional wellbeing for millenia, forming a foundation of strength and resilience. However, colonisation, systemic violence and discrimination—including the forced removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, which continues today—have disrupted this foundation, leading to compounding cycles of intergenerational and complex trauma.

Research

Rising incidence of invasive β-hemolytic streptococcal (iBHS) infections has prompted consideration of vaccination as a preventative strategy for at-risk populations. The benefits of a vaccine targeting Lancefield group A (Streptococcus pyogenes; Strep A) would increase if cross-species immunity against Lancefield groups C/G (Streptococcus dysgalactiae subspecies equisimilis; SDSE) and B (Streptococcus agalactiae; GBS) was demonstrated. 

Research

Contact tracing is an important public health measure used to reduce transmission of infectious diseases. Contact tracers typically conduct telephone interviews with cases to identify contacts and direct them to quarantine, with the aim of preventing onward transmission. However, in situations where caseloads exceed the capacity of the public health system, timely interviews may not be feasible for all cases. Here we present a modelling framework for assessing the impact of different case interview prioritisation strategies on disease transmission.