Parasitic Disease Wastewater Surveillance to Inform Public Health Action in Remote Northern Queensland

Collaborator

External advisor on community engagement and culturally safe protocols for a TAAHC funded research project. Intestinal parasites are chronic preventable infectious disease of poverty which disproportionately affects Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in northern Australia. Surveillance for these diseases is time consuming costly, difficult and intrusive, requiring faecal and blood testing of community members. This project is a proof-of-concept study to validate and pilot the use of wastewater testing for the surveillance of important intestinal parasites, including strongyloidiasis, whipworm, giardiasis, and amoebic dysentery infecting people in northern Queensland. The use of wastewater sampling will augment the capacity for public health surveillance by facilitating timely and cost-efficient parasitic disease surveillance simultaneously in multiple communities.

01 Jan 2025

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