News

Awarded May 2020 for a period of five years

Project

Developing a coherent national approach to the clinical and public health management of invasive Strep A disease

Context

Many people are aware of meningococcal disease but most people don’t know that another pathogen, Strep A, kills more people every year in Australia.

Invasive Strep A – the deadliest form of this disease – can spread to those closest to a Strep A case. This is known as ‘secondary invasive Strep A’. Unlike meningococcal disease, there is no national approach to preventing or managing invasive Strep A.

“My research will provide up-to-date evidence of the current health burden of invasive Strep A in Australia,” said Dr Katherine Gibney.

“I will look for a simple and effective way to prevent secondary invasive Strep A. Together, this information will contribute to a co-ordinated national approach to invasive Strep A.

“I plan to review hospitalisations and deaths from invasive Strep A across Australia over recent years based on national records. Analysing clinical and microbial genomic data on invasive Strep A cases that occur over the next few years, I will look for occurrences of secondary invasive Strep A among their household and close contacts.

“Finally, I plan to test if a single dose of oral antibiotics can be given to household and close contacts, rather than the current recommendations of 10 days of oral antibiotics or a painful intramuscular antibiotic injection .”