The Health News Australia March 27 2018
- According to health experts, the high rate of STIs among Indigenous people is more a sign of failing health programs than child abuse, and a fatal syphilis outbreak continues because multiple governments have failed to address it. The rates of sexually transmitted infections have dominated headlines, often discussed in the context of child sexual abuse following the alleged rape of a toddler in Tennant Creek. In the 4 years to 2016, syphilis rates doubled among non-Indigenous populations but tripled among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
- There is new evidence that birthing interventions such as forceps and caesarean sections are linked to long-term health outcomes for young children. An Australian-led study shows that children born by caesarean section are more susceptible to eczema and metabolic disorders including diabetes and obesity by the time they are five compared to those born through spontaneous vaginal birth.
- A new therapy to help infants with acute respiratory infection will prevent thousands of infants with bronchiolitis from requiring escalation of care when admitted to hospital and save more than $200 million in hospital costs. Bronchiolitis – caused by a viral infection in the lungs – is the most common reason for infants under 12 months to be admitted to hospital, with 10% of them requiring intensive care.
News on Health Professional Radio. Today is the 27th of March 2018. Read by Tabetha Moreto.
According to health experts, the high rate of STIs among Indigenous people is more a sign of failing health programs than child abuse, and a fatal syphilis outbreak continues because multiple governments have failed to address it. The rates of sexually transmitted infections have dominated headlines, often discussed in the context of child sexual abuse following the alleged rape of a toddler in Tennant Creek. Generally, rates of STIs and rates of child abuse have increased in recent years, but health and child protection workers have warned against conflating the two, and say neither are being adequately addressed.
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Government data shows Indigenous people in the Northern Territory, Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland are two point eight times more likely to have a notified case of chlamydia and six point nine times more likely to have gonorrhoea, although the rate for the latter decreased by seventeen percent between two thousand twelve and two thousand sixteen.
In very remote areas Indigenous people are thirty times more likely to have gonorrhoea, although that too declined by eight percent in the five years to two thousand sixteen.
In the four years to two thousand sixteen, syphilis rates doubled among non-Indigenous populations but tripled among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. One in five Indigenous cases were people aged fifteen to nineteen. Underage Indigenous girls in the Northern Territory were almost sixty times more likely to have a notified case of syphilis in the ten years to two thousand sixteen. Last week the federal government faced criticism over its decision not to fully fund a twenty five million dollar policy proposal to address STIs, instead opting to fund an eight point eight million dollar program – which is still being rolled out – to respond to a long-running syphilis outbreak.
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https://healthtimes.com.au/hub/midwifery/38/news/aap/study-shows-birth-interventions-linked-to-kids-health/3254/
There is new evidence that birthing interventions such as forceps and caesarean sections are linked to long-term health outcomes for young children. An Australian-led study shows that
children born by caesarean section are more susceptible to eczema and metabolic disorders including diabetes and obesity by the time they are five compared to those born through spontaneous vaginal birth.
The study of nearly half-a-million women and their children also found infants born with the help of forceps or vacuum extractor to a mother who was induced had the highest risk of jaundice and feeding problems. Overall, the odds of respiratory infections, metabolic disorders and eczema were highest among children who experienced any form of birth intervention, according to the study published in the journal Birth on Monday.
Lead researcher Professor Hannah Dahlen, from Western Sydney University’s School of Nursing and Midwifery, said the findings are concerning because these were low-risk, healthy women.
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Researchers analysed health records of four hundred ninety one thousand five hundred ninety women and their children born in New South Wales between two thousand and two thousand eight. The children’s health was then followed during their first twenty eight days and up to five years of age, until two thousand thirteen.
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Babies born via a caesarean section also miss out on good bacteria passed on during a vaginal birth that helps to “seed a healthy microbiome.”
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The gut microbiome is made up of the trillions of microorganisms and their genetic material that live in the intestinal tract. A body of evidence suggests an imbalance of good and bacteria in the gut is associated with a range of illnesses and diseases.
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http://health.uq.edu.au/article/2018/03/babies-bronchiolitis-benefit-new-oxygen-therapy
A new therapy to help infants with acute respiratory infection will prevent thousands of infants with bronchiolitis from requiring escalation of care when admitted to hospital and save more than two hundred million dollars in hospital costs. Bronchiolitis – caused by a viral infection in the lungs – is the most common reason for infants under twelve months to be admitted to hospital, with ten percent of them requiring intensive care.
Researchers at The University of Queensland Mater Research Institute (UQ-MRI) and Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital have developed high-flow oxygen therapy for children with bronchiolitis. A study of one thousand four hundred seventy two infants with bronchiolitis across seventeen hospitals in Australia and New Zealand found high-flow oxygen therapy reduced the need for further increased hospital care by fifty percent.
UQ-MRI PhD student Donna Franklin said the study would change standard practice for caring and managing infants with bronchiolitis.
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She added: “Introducing high-flow oxygen therapy early in the illness means we can keep children in their own community hospitals, reducing the impact on the child and the family.”
High-flow nasal oxygen therapy works by delivering a higher volume of air and oxygen into the nasal passages to improve breathing. The research, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, was funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council, the Emergency Medicine Foundation, the Mater Foundation and several Australian hospital foundations.
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