Integrating testing for chronic strongyloidiasis within the Indigenous adult preventive health assessment system in endemic communities in the Northern Territory, Australia: An intervention study.
BACKGROUND:The life-threatening clinical manifestations of strongyloidiasis are preventable with early detection and effective treatment. The aim of this study was to assess if there was an increase to the number and proportion of persons tested for chronic strongyloidiasis, as a result of integrati...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:67283449920f4eb7889dbfd11feb3d45 2023-05-15T15:13:24+02:00 Integrating testing for chronic strongyloidiasis within the Indigenous adult preventive health assessment system in endemic communities in the Northern Territory, Australia: An intervention study. Wendy A Page Jenni A Judd David J MacLaren Petra Buettner 2020-05-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0008232 https://doaj.org/article/67283449920f4eb7889dbfd11feb3d45 EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0008232 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0008232 https://doaj.org/article/67283449920f4eb7889dbfd11feb3d45 PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 14, Iss 5, p e0008232 (2020) Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 article 2020 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0008232 2022-12-31T07:17:08Z BACKGROUND:The life-threatening clinical manifestations of strongyloidiasis are preventable with early detection and effective treatment. The aim of this study was to assess if there was an increase to the number and proportion of persons tested for chronic strongyloidiasis, as a result of integrating Strongyloides stercoralis serology into the existing preventive health assessment system in four Aboriginal health services in endemic communities. METHODOLOGY:A prospective, longitudinal, before-and-after intervention study was conducted in four Aboriginal health services in remote endemically infected communities in the Northern Territory, Australia, from July 2012 to December 2016. The electronic patient information and recall systems enabled the integration of Strongyloides stercoralis serology into the adult preventive health assessment. Strongyloides reports for each health service were extracted half-yearly to examine the number and proportion of persons tested for chronic strongyloidiasis during the study and to measure the effect of the intervention. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:The number and proportion of persons tested increased significantly during the study. From a total resident population of 3650 Indigenous adults over 15 years of age, 1686 persons (47.4%) were tested. The percentage of adults who had at least one serology test increased in all four health services to between 41% (446/1086) and 81.9% (172/210). Of the 1686 persons tested, 680 positive cases of chronic strongyloidiasis (40.3%) were identified. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE:This population health systems intervention increased the number and proportion of persons tested for chronic strongyloidiasis in four health services in endemically infected communities. This intervention is relevant to other health services with high-risk populations. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases 14 5 e0008232 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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English |
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Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
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Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 Wendy A Page Jenni A Judd David J MacLaren Petra Buettner Integrating testing for chronic strongyloidiasis within the Indigenous adult preventive health assessment system in endemic communities in the Northern Territory, Australia: An intervention study. |
topic_facet |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
description |
BACKGROUND:The life-threatening clinical manifestations of strongyloidiasis are preventable with early detection and effective treatment. The aim of this study was to assess if there was an increase to the number and proportion of persons tested for chronic strongyloidiasis, as a result of integrating Strongyloides stercoralis serology into the existing preventive health assessment system in four Aboriginal health services in endemic communities. METHODOLOGY:A prospective, longitudinal, before-and-after intervention study was conducted in four Aboriginal health services in remote endemically infected communities in the Northern Territory, Australia, from July 2012 to December 2016. The electronic patient information and recall systems enabled the integration of Strongyloides stercoralis serology into the adult preventive health assessment. Strongyloides reports for each health service were extracted half-yearly to examine the number and proportion of persons tested for chronic strongyloidiasis during the study and to measure the effect of the intervention. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:The number and proportion of persons tested increased significantly during the study. From a total resident population of 3650 Indigenous adults over 15 years of age, 1686 persons (47.4%) were tested. The percentage of adults who had at least one serology test increased in all four health services to between 41% (446/1086) and 81.9% (172/210). Of the 1686 persons tested, 680 positive cases of chronic strongyloidiasis (40.3%) were identified. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE:This population health systems intervention increased the number and proportion of persons tested for chronic strongyloidiasis in four health services in endemically infected communities. This intervention is relevant to other health services with high-risk populations. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Wendy A Page Jenni A Judd David J MacLaren Petra Buettner |
author_facet |
Wendy A Page Jenni A Judd David J MacLaren Petra Buettner |
author_sort |
Wendy A Page |
title |
Integrating testing for chronic strongyloidiasis within the Indigenous adult preventive health assessment system in endemic communities in the Northern Territory, Australia: An intervention study. |
title_short |
Integrating testing for chronic strongyloidiasis within the Indigenous adult preventive health assessment system in endemic communities in the Northern Territory, Australia: An intervention study. |
title_full |
Integrating testing for chronic strongyloidiasis within the Indigenous adult preventive health assessment system in endemic communities in the Northern Territory, Australia: An intervention study. |
title_fullStr |
Integrating testing for chronic strongyloidiasis within the Indigenous adult preventive health assessment system in endemic communities in the Northern Territory, Australia: An intervention study. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Integrating testing for chronic strongyloidiasis within the Indigenous adult preventive health assessment system in endemic communities in the Northern Territory, Australia: An intervention study. |
title_sort |
integrating testing for chronic strongyloidiasis within the indigenous adult preventive health assessment system in endemic communities in the northern territory, australia: an intervention study. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0008232 https://doaj.org/article/67283449920f4eb7889dbfd11feb3d45 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 14, Iss 5, p e0008232 (2020) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0008232 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0008232 https://doaj.org/article/67283449920f4eb7889dbfd11feb3d45 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0008232 |
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PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases |
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14 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
e0008232 |
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1766343957362507776 |