Some of you may be interested in reading a GP position description for an Aboriginal Health Service. This job is split between Amoonguna (15kms from Alice Springs) and Central Australian Aboriginal Congress health service in Alice Springs.
Congress has expanded recently and now looks after nine branches within a 100km radius of Alice Springs. Some of these used to have their own health service but was taken over by Congress as the poorly planned and/or executed shire mergers took place with the shires deciding they were not in the business of providing health care to their remote Indigenous populations.
Most of us involved in Indigenous Health can quote the health statistics by heart. They have ten times the amount of renal disease, remote indigenous Australians have ten times the number per head of diabetes compared the the remote white population, hospitalised for pneumonia five times more than other Australians. Need I go on?
I will.
A review of the results of sexual health screens performed in 26 central Australian Aboriginal communities between 1994 and 1996 (with an eighty percent participation rate) showed
24–29% of 15–24 year olds were infected, as were about 10% of those aged 40–50 years
That data is now thirteen years old. Hopefully things have improved since then. So lets look at something more recent.
The Western Australian Aboriginal Sexual Health Strategy 2005-2008 reports that in Western Australia gonorrhoea notifications were 182 times more likely to be for Aboriginal youth than from non-Aboriginal youth.
What would be the public health response if this occurred in the general population in, say, Melbourne or Sydney. I bet a lot more than the resources given to Aboriginal Health.
On page four there is a terrific article of hands on work during a sexual Health screen with Ngaanyatjarra Health in the Western Desert of Western Australia.
Breast screening at overload. Indigenous have lowest participation rates http://bit.ly/43CHRD
MJA article suggests more nicotine replacement therapies should be available for indigenous people http://bit.ly/1D6LW9
Chlamydia cases increased by 10% last year. STI rates in indigenous also higher than rest of population http://bit.ly/KDqlS
HIV infection among Aboriginal people was attributed to injecting drug use in 22 per cent of cases over the past 5yrs. http://bit.ly/1stayc
New 12 station renal unit under construction in Alice Springs.Boost capacity by 20% http://bit.ly/HN1Of -will border areas be given access?
Smoking is the single biggest factor responsible for the gap between the health of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people http://bit.ly/ezHNP
Qld Health spent $22k in accommodation for renal patient as no dialysis unit at home. Unit would cost $40k http://bit.ly/onOAz staff costs?
Anwernekenhe National Aboriginal &TI HIV/AIDS Alliance launched. to bring down Indigenous HIV rates http://bit.ly/FRsYm
National Indigenous Health Equality Council has first meeting with Snowdon, Minister for Indigenous Health http://bit.ly/pWubU
Indigenous pandemic protection ‘a long way off’ for South Australia’s Aboriginal communities http://bit.ly/Z3SOO
serious gaps in diagnosis & treatment of people at risk from heart attacks. Good news-Aboriginal people treated better! http://bit.ly/18JO96
The Indigenous News Updates are sourced from news and other articles from around the country that I have posted on Twitter. Image source: OpenClipArt.org, public domain.
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Endemic describes an infection rate of 1-5% and hyperendemic an infection rate of over 5%. Strongyloides infection rates of over 25% have been seen in in some parts of tropical and sub-tropical indigenous Australia. It i also found in high rates in other countries in the same latitudes.
Strongyloides stercoralis is a parasitic roundworm. These worms are picked up when you come in contact with faeces or faecally contaminated soil. When these worms get on the skin they burrow in.
The larvae then move through the body and can end up in the lungs.
You cough, they end up in your mouth.
You swallow they end up in your gut, well, the small intestine where they can live happily ever after (up to 12 months).
From there they burrow into the mucosa and lay their eggs. The time taken from burrowing into the skin until the eggs hatch in the intestinal mucosa is about two weeks.
Some of these larvae when hatched are excreted where they can live for a few days outside the body. Others go through the cycle again to reach the small intestine and reproduce. The video shows where you find them in the small intestine.
They can be diagnosed from a blood test or an examination of a stool sample. Often it is high eosinophils can indicate their presence leading to further diagnostic tests. You can have them for years without knowing. However should your immune system falter they become a problem. This can be due to among other causes, a bacterial infection or doses of cortisone. Up to 60% of all deaths due to strongyloidiasis are because cortisone type drugs were given to patients with chronic strongyloidiasis.
Disclaimer:The above information is of a general nature only. 341 words where I could have used a thousand. Also, please do not try to take a biopsy of your own small intestine – or anyone else’s!
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All opinions expressed here are those of their authors and not of their employers. The information provided here is of a general nature only and is not intended to provide pharmaceutical or medical advice or even advice about living bush.
In other words: If you travel bush make sure you seek advice and are prepared. If you are sick, don't be a nong and rely on information in the blog but see a health professional for assistance
The opinions expressed here are mine or of the guest authors and not of the respective employers. The information provided here is Information. It is not medical, pharmaceutical, travel or any other form of advice.
