Topics
Infectious diseases
Sevenfold rise in likelihood of pertussis test requests in a stable set of Australian general practice encounters, 2000–2011
A study of disease notifications in general practice seeks to answer the question of whether increases in pertussis notifications in Australia since 2008 were due to a true increase in the disease or an increase in testing.
Marlena C Kaczmarek BSc, MPH · Lisa Valenti BEc, MMedStat · Heath A Kelly BSc, MB BS, MPH · Robert S Ware BSc(Hons), PhD · Helena C Britt BA, PhD · Stephen B Lambert MAppEpid, FAFPHM, PhD
A pilgrim's progress: severe Rickettsia conorii infection complicated by gangrene
A challenging case of acute febrile illness and rapidly evolving petechial rash and digital gangrene in a traveller returning from North India and Nepal.
Puvesh Punj MB BS · Renjy Nelson MB BS, FRACP · Sarah Gardiner BM BS · Michelle Lodge MB BS, FRACS · Stephen R Graves FASM, FRCPA, PhD · Morgyn S Warner MD, FRACP, FRCPA
The drama of zoonoses
MY CAREER choice was based on non-fiction reading as a teenager. Starting with American journalist Berton Roueché, who adapted material from the terse Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report covering investigations by the US Centers for Disease Control, I have been reading popular accounts of epidemics for a while.And epidemics fascinated the earliest writers: pestilence as one of the horsemen of the Apocalypse in the Bible; ...
Charles S Guest
Prevention of peripheral intravenous catheter-related bloodstream infections: the need for a new focus
In view of the findings of a linked research article in this issue, clock watching should take a back seat to paying strict attention to insertion and maintenance practice to prevent IV catheter-related bloodstream infection
Claire M Rickard BN, GradDipN(CriticalCare), PhD · Joan Webster RN, RM, BA · E Geoffrey Playford MB BS(Hons), MMed(ClinEpi), PhD
Immigration screening for latent tuberculosis infection
A sensible approach to controlling tuberculosis in Australia would be universal screening of migrants from high-incidence countries, similar to the efficient and cost-effective program that is used in the United Kingdom
Justin T Denholm MPHTM, PhD, FRACP
Peripheral intravenous catheter-associated Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia: more than 5 years of prospective data from two tertiary health services
Incident cases of S. aureus bacteraemia occurring where intravenous catheters were inserted in wards and in emergency departments were investigated. The researchers suggest that timely removal is important for reducing risk of infection, particularly when the catheters are inserted under suboptimal circumstances.
Rhonda L Stuart MB BS, PhD, FRACP · Donna R M Cameron CertICS, BN, BAppSc · Carmel Scott RN Div 1, CICP · Despina Kotsanas BSc(Hons), MClinEpi · M Lindsay Grayson MB BS, MD, FRACP · Tony M Korman MB BS, FRACP, FRCPA · Elizabeth E Gillespie BN, MPubHealth · Paul D R Johnson MB BS, PhD, FRACP
Human papillomavirus vaccine in boys: background rates of potential adverse events
With human papillomavirus vaccination for boys now on Australia’s National Immunisation Schedule, this study determined background rates of potential adverse events, assuming temporal association with vaccination but no other association. The findings will help to determine whether adverse event reports represent real safety flags that require urgent investigation.
Hazel J Clothier FIBMS, MSc, MAppEpid · Katherine J Lee BSc, MSc, PhD · Vijaya Sundararajan MD, MPH · Jim P Buttery FRACP, MD, MSc · Nigel W Crawford BM BS, MPH, PhD
Steroids control paradoxical worsening of Mycobacterium ulcerans infection following initiation of antibiotic therapy
Antibiotics should be continued unchanged when a paradoxical reaction occurs in M. ulcerans infection, but adding steroids can diminish skin loss and systemic symptoms.
Janine M Trevillyan MB BS, FRACP · Paul D R Johnson MB BS, PhD, FRACP
Evidence-based policies for the control of influenza
Vaccination remains the single best option for controlling influenza, but it is important not to overstate the effectiveness of current inactivated vaccines.
Heath A Kelly MB BS, MPH · Nicholas Kelley PhD
Extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis hovers threateningly at Australia’s door
Patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis will inevitably reach the Torres Strait or Australia’s mainland. To defend against this threat, all those who present to health services in Australia should have free and equal access to tuberculosis care.
Tony Kirby BSc(Biological Chemistry)
Challenges in regulating influenza vaccines for children
Learning from past experience to improve paediatric vaccine safety.
Paul V Effler MD, MPH, FAFPHM · Heath A Kelly MB BS, MPH
Public health management of hepatitis B virus contacts
Improved education and support for patients and general practitioners and, preferably, active follow-up by health departments of all notifications is needed in place of the current haphazard approach to contact tracing for hepatitis B notifications.
Karin Leder
Hospital-acquired influenza in an Australian sentinel surveillance system
Although only a small proportion of cases of influenza in hospitalised patients in 2010–2011 were nosocomial, the outcomes could be severe. All nosocomial cases occurred in patients with chronic comorbidities for whom influenza vaccination is recommended, but two-thirds of patients had not been vaccinated.
on behalf of the FluCAN investigators
A cross-sectional study of susceptibility to vaccine-preventable diseases among prison entrants in New South Wales
The custodial environment poses challenges for infectious disease management. This study examines the prevalence of susceptibility to measles, mumps, rubella, varicella and hepatitis B virus among people entering prisons in NSW.
Sarah Larney BA, BSc(Hons), PhD · Denise L Monkley BNSc(Hons), MPH · Devon Indig PhD, MPH, BSc · Stephen E Hampton MB BS, MPH, FRACGP
Risk of measles transmission on aeroplanes: Australian experience 2007–2011
Research into the likelihood of in-flight measles transmission enables an assessment of the effectiveness of current contact-tracing guidelines.
Veronica C Hoad MB BS, MPH · Bridget A O’Connor BAppSc, MPH, MAppEpid · Andrew J Langley MB BS, FAFOEM, FAFPHM · Gary K Dowse MB BS, MScEpid, FAFPHM
Visceral leishmaniasis in a patient taking adalimumab for rheumatoid arthritis
The first case of visceral leishmaniasis in an Australian returned traveller taking adalimumab highlights the small but significant risk to immunosuppressed patients travelling to areas endemic for leishmaniasis.
Catherine E Berry BMed · Jeffrey Tsai MB BS · Alexander Tierney MB BS, FRACP · Robert Pickles BMed(Hons), FRACP
Antimicrobial resistance: global problems need global solutions
Despite a steady rise in antimicrobial resistance globally, there is cause for optimism that coordinated action now can still make a difference.
Susan Maddocks
Gram-negative resistance: can we combat the coming of a new “Red Plague”?
From the “Black Death” of bubonic plague to the “White Plague” of tuberculosis, infectious diseases have had devastating effects on unprepared human populations. What must we do to avoid a similar fate from the “Red Plague” of multiresistant gram-negative bacteria?
David F M Looke FRACP, FRCPA, MMedSci(ClinEpidemiol) · Thomas Gottlieb MB BS, FRACP, FRCPA · Cheryl A Jones MB BS, PhD, FRACP · David L Paterson MB BS, PhD, FRACP
Updated Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease infection control guidelines: sifting facts from fiction
New guidelines remind us that CJD is often on a list of differential diagnoses for neurological diseases, and that equity in access to medical care is important for people with CJD and their families.
Ann P Koehler MB BS, FRCPA, MPH · Eugene Athan MB BS, FRACP, MPH · Steven J Collins MB BS, MD, FRACP
Should all adults with varicella be prescribed antiviral treatment?
Funding such a recommendation would lead to little overall cost but would possibly save several Australian lives each year
D Ashley R Watson
“Down the drain”: carbapenem-resistant bacteria in intensive care unit patients and handwashing sinks
After the detection of four clusters of gram-negative bacteria harbouring the MBL gene blaIMP-4 in an intensive care unit, an epidemiological investigation uncovered an environmental reservoir of the organisms that proved difficult to clean up.
Despina Kotsanas BSc(Hons), MClinEpi · W R P L I Wijesooriya MB BS, MD, MPhil · Tony M Korman MB BS, FRACP, FRCPA · Elizabeth E Gillespie BN, MPubHlth · Louise Wright BN · Kylie Snook BN · Natalie Williams BN · Jan M Bell BSc · Hua Y Li MMed · Rhonda L Stuart MB BS, PhD, FRACP
Determining research priorities for clinician-initiated trials in infectious diseases
Objectives: To determine research priorities of infectious diseases physicians for clinician-initiated randomised controlled trials (RCTs).Design, setting and participants: Online survey of infectious diseases physicians in Australia and New Zealand.Main outcome measures: Research priorities for, and perceived barriers to, clinician-initiated RCTs.Results: 122/550 infectious diseases physicians (22%) responded to the survey. The five highest ranked proposals for clinician-initiated RCTs were ...
on behalf of the Steering Group of the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases Clinical Research Network*
The doctor and the mask: iatrogenic septic arthritis caused by Streptoccocus mitis
A case of septic arthritis after a joint injection led to an investigation of the possible source and a simple recommendation for infection control.
Nicholas R Coatsworth MB BS, MIntPH, FRACP · Peter G Huntington MMedSc(Path), BMedSc · Bruno Giuffrè MB BS, FRANZCR · George Kotsiou MB BS, FRACP, FRCPA
Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy caused by BK virus?
A causal link is conceivable, but how strong is the evidence and how might this change clinical practice?
Bruce J Brew MB BS, MD, FRACP · Catriona A McLean MB BS, PhD, FRCPA · Eugene O Major PhD
Beyond injecting drug use: investigation of a Victorian cluster of hepatitis C among HIV-infected men who have sex with men
In a survey of HIV-positive men with newly acquired hepatitis C (HCV), novel risk factors for HCV transmission (non-injecting drug use, sexual practices with increased likelihood of trauma, and presence of genital ulcers) were identified. These novel transmission routes and a limited knowledge of the risks of HCV are emerging as important risk factors in this group.
Andrew A Mahony MB BS, FRACP · Ellen J Donnan MAppEpid, MPH, BNurs · Rosemary A Lester MB BS, MPH, FAFPHM · Joseph S Doyle MB BS, MSc, FRACP · James Knox MB BS, BSc, DTMH · Samantha L Tracy BSc · Scott Bowden PhD · Joseph J Sasadeusz MB BS, FRACP, PhD