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The inequitable burden of group A streptococcal diseases in Indigenous Australians
Author(s) -
May Philippa J,
Bowen Asha C,
Carapetis Jonathan R
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/mja16.00400
Subject(s) - citation , indigenous , library science , physics , media studies , sociology , computer science , biology , ecology
roup A streptococcal (GAS) infections contribute to the excess burden of ill-health in Indigenous GAustralians, causing superficial infection, invasive disease, and the autoimmune sequelae of acute rheumatic fever (ARF) and acute post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis (APSGN) (Box 1). GAS diseases declined in the broader Australian population during the 20th century, largely as a result of improved living conditions, but this is not the case in Indigenous Australians. GAS infections and their sequelae persist at unacceptably high rates in remote Australia, on par with or higher than those in low income settings internationally. GAS infections globally represent social disadvantage. Poverty, household overcrowding and distance from health care services are the main drivers.