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Community collaboration ensures ending RHD is everybody’s businessCollaboration is the driving force behind ‘END RHD Demonstration Communities’ – a new community-driven, research-backed approach to tackling rheumatic heart disease (RHD) in remote Australia.

News & Events
New RHD research collaboration with Danila Dilba Health ServiceThe Kids Research Institute Australia and Menzies School of Health Research have joined forces with Danila Dilba Health Service to look at improving treatment for RHD.

News & Events
$2 million grant to develop diagnostic tool for rheumatic feverThe Kids Research Institute Australia & Menzies School of Health Research will lead an international project to develop a diagnostic tool for acute rheumatic fever.
Research
Host-dependent resistance of Group A Streptococcus to sulfamethoxazole mediated by a horizontally-acquired reduced folate transporterDescribed antimicrobial resistance mechanisms enable bacteria to avoid the direct effects of antibiotics and can be monitored by in vitro susceptibility testing and genetic methods. Here we describe a mechanism of sulfamethoxazole resistance that requires a host metabolite for activity.
Research
Burden of disease and barriers to comprehensive care for rheumatic heart disease in South Africa: an updated systematic review protocolRheumatic heart disease (RHD) is responsible for a significant burden of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, and remains the most common cause of acquired heart disease among children and young adults in low-income and middle-income countries. Additionally, the global COVID-19 pandemic has forced the emergency restructuring of many health systems, which has had a broad impact on health in general, including cardiovascular disease.
Research
Standardization of Epidemiological Surveillance of Acute Poststreptococcal GlomerulonephritisAcute poststreptococcal glomerulonephritis (APSGN) is an immune complex-induced glomerulonephritis that develops as a sequela of streptococcal infections. This article provides guidelines for the surveillance of APSGN due to group A Streptococcus (Strep A). The primary objectives of APSGN surveillance are to monitor trends in age- and sex-specific incidence, describe the demographic and clinical characteristics of patients with APSGN, document accompanying risk factors, then monitor trends in frequency of complications, illness duration, hospitalization rates, and mortality.

News & Events
Partnering with communities to reduce rheumatic heart disease in the KimberleyThe Kimberley has the highest rates of rheumatic heart disease (RHD) in Western Australia – but through the establishment of a new community-led, research-backed project known as END RHD Communities, there’s hope this will change.

News & Events
New national guideline set to tackle skin infectionsWhen health organisations in the north-west of WA requested urgent action to address the region’s high rate of skin infections, Dr Asha Bowen answered the call.
Research
Describing skin health and disease in urban-living Aboriginal children: co-design, development and feasibility testing of the Koolungar Moorditj Healthy Skin pilot projectIndigenous children in colonised nations experience high rates of health disparities linked to historical trauma resulting from displacement and dispossession, as well as ongoing systemic racism. Skin infections and their complications are one such health inequity, with the highest global burden described in remote-living Australian Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander (hereafter respectfully referred to as Aboriginal) children. Yet despite increasing urbanisation, little is known about the skin infection burden for urban-living Aboriginal children.
Research
The burden of bacterial skin infection, scabies and atopic dermatitis among urban-living Indigenous children in high-income countries: a protocol for a systematic reviewBacterial skin infections and scabies disproportionately affect children in resource-poor countries as well as underprivileged children in high-income countries. Atopic dermatitis is a common childhood dermatosis that predisposes to bacterial skin infection.