Ascertaining infectious disease burden through primary care clinic attendance among young Aboriginal children living in four remote communities in Western Australia

David Hendrickx; Asha C Bowen; Julie A Marsh; Jonathan R Carapetis; Roz Walker

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0203684

Ascertaining infectious disease burden through primary care clinic attendance among young Aboriginal children living in four remote communities in Western Australia

PLoS One. 2018 Sep 17;13(9):e0203684. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0203684. eCollection 2018.

Authors

David Hendrickx^{1

2

3}, Asha C Bowen^{1

4

5

6}, Julie A Marsh^{1

2}, Jonathan R Carapetis^{1

5}, Roz Walker^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Wesfarmers Centre for Vaccines and Infectious Diseases, Telethon Kids Institute, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
² Centre for Child Health Research, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
³ NHMRC Centre for Research Excellence in Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing, Telethon Kids Institute, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
⁴ School of Medicine, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
⁵ Department of Infectious Diseases, Perth Children's Hospital, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
⁶ Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.

Abstract

Infectious diseases contribute a substantial burden of ill-health in Australia's Aboriginal children. Skin infections have been shown to be common in remote Aboriginal communities, particularly in the Northern Territory, Australia. However, primary care data on skin and other infectious diseases among Aboriginal children living in remote areas of Western Australia are limited. We conducted a retrospective review of clinic presentations of all children aged 0 to 5 years presenting to four clinics located in the Western Desert region of Western Australia between 2007 and 2012 to determine this burden at a local level. Infectious diseases accounted for almost 50% of all clinic presentations. Skin infections (sores, scabies and fungal infections) were the largest proportion (16%), with ear infections (15%) and upper respiratory infections (13%) also high. Skin infections remained high in all age groups; 72% of children presented at least once with skin infections. Scabies accounted for only 2% of all presentations, although one-quarter of children presented during the study for management of scabies. Skin sores accounted for 75% of the overall burden of skin infections. Improved public health measures targeting bacterial skin infections are needed to reduce this high burden of skin infections in Western Australia.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Child, Preschool
Communicable Diseases / epidemiology*
Humans
Infant
Infant, Newborn
Primary Health Care
Retrospective Studies
Western Australia / epidemiology

Grants and funding

DH was supported by a PhD scholarship provided by the University of Western Australia (www.uwa.edu.au) and a top-up stipend and award provided by the Stan and Jean Peron Charitable Trust. AB is supported by a National Health and Medical Research Council Early Career Fellowship (APP1088735; www.nhmrc.gov.au). Financial support for the project and for authors DH and RW was also provided by the National Health and Medical Research Council Centre for Research Excellence in Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing (APP1000886; www.nhmrc.gov.au). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.