Tagged: Infectious disease

New Zealand’s Poor Pandemic Preparedness According to the Global Health Security Index - Public Health Expert

Public Health Expert • Nov 11, 2019 •

• emergency,
• health security,
• Infectious disease,
• Pandemic

Dr Matt Boyd, Prof Michael Baker, Prof Nick Wilson The Global Health Security Index which considers pandemic threats has just been published. Unfortunately, NZ scores approximately half marks (54/100), coming in 35th in the world rankings – far behind Australia. This poor result suggests that the NZ Government needs to act promptly to upgrade the country’s defences against pandemic threats. Read More

Closing New Zealand’s Borders to Mitigate a Severe Pandemic has Merit - Public Health Expert

Public Health Expert • Aug 09, 2018 •

• Borders,
• Infectious disease,
• Pandemic

Dr Matt Boyd, Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Osman Mansoor & Prof Michael Baker Should an island nation like New Zealand close its borders in the face of a severe pandemic threat? In a SciBlogs post last year we argued ‘yes’. We have just published additional modelling that also comes to this conclusion. In a severe pandemic tens to hundreds … Read More

Mental health disorders among leading causes of children’ illness - News

Jean Balchin • Apr 13, 2018 •

• anxiety,
• children,
• Depression,
• Diabetes,
• Europe,
• hallucinations,
• Health,
• Infectious disease,
• Mental health,
• Panic attack,
• panic disorder,
• paranoia,
• Psychology,
• Schizophrenia,
• social anxiety disorder

According to a study published in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, although global rates of mental disorders in children have remained stable over time, the decline of infectious diseases will place mental disorders among the main causes of disease in children aged 4-15 years. In the study, Marie-Laure Baranne and Bruno Falissard at INSERM, France describe the prevalence of mental … Read More

How climate change affects the building blocks for health - Guest Work

Guest Author • Oct 26, 2017 •

• climate change,
• climate change and health,
• Health,
• Infectious disease,
• public health

By Alistair Woodward, University of Auckland In August last year, a third of the residents of the North Island township Havelock North fell acutely ill with gastroenteritis after their water was contaminated with campylobacter. More intense rainfalls have caused flooding throughout New Zealand, as seen here in Northland. From www.shutterstock.com, CC BY-ND Following a long dry spell, … Read More

Can pandemic threats justify border closure for island nations like NZ? - Public Health Expert

Public Health Expert • Jun 26, 2017 •

• Borders,
• Infectious disease,
• Pandemic,
• Travel

Professor Nick Wilson, Dr Matt Boyd, Dr Osman Mansoor, Professor Michael G Baker Countries prepare for future pandemic risks because of pandemic influenza, novel emerging infectious agents and possible synthetic bioweapons. In a study we just published in a journal, we explored the costs and benefits of complete border closure in NZ in response to new pandemic threats. We found … Read More

A future without antibiotics - Infectious Thoughts

Siouxsie Wiles • Nov 24, 2016 •

• antimicrobial resistance,
• Drugs,
• InfectedNZ,
• Infectious disease

Last week was World Antibiotic Awareness week, an initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO) to raise awareness and understanding of antimicrobial resistance. To follow-up, here at Te Pūnaha Matatini we are having a week-long conversation about the health, social, economic, and environmental impacts of infectious diseases in Aotearoa New Zealand. In this post, I want to touch on what … Read More

The two faces of infectious disease threats: we need to respond to both - Guest Work

InfectedNZ • Nov 22, 2016 •

• InfectedNZ,
• Infectious disease,
• public health

Infectious diseases are far from defeated. They pose a unique health threat because they are caused by living micro-organisms. This biological fact has two important consequences: firstly it means that these micro-organisms are constantly evolving to exploit new ecological opportunities, and secondly they are transmissible (they spread from person-to-person and from infected animals and contaminated environments). The constant evolution of … Read More

Antibiotic resistance is looming but we can protect the children - Guest Work

InfectedNZ • Nov 22, 2016 •

• antibiotic resistance,
• antibiotics,
• Child Health,
• InfectedNZ,
• Infectious disease

In another life I used to sit on teams that developed something called ‘clinical guidance’. We would draw together published evidence and make recommendations on what best practice should look like. I sat on one such group for rheumatic fever. Rheumatic fever (RF) is a disease now seen mainly in developing countries (apart, of course, from the poor pockets of … Read More

Living with MRSA - Guest Work

InfectedNZ • Nov 21, 2016 •

• antibiotic resistance,
• antimicrobial resistance,
• Infectious disease,
• MRSA

Parent Tiff Mora shares her experience of living with MRSA, as a contribution to InfectedNZ – an online campaign to raise awareness about infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance.  Wash your hands all you want. Don’t touch things. Clean your cuts and grazes. Be careful all you can… but it won’t make any difference. An open wound will grow; it … Read More

HIV prevention in NZ: on a knife edge - Guest Work

InfectedNZ • Nov 21, 2016 •

• AIDS,
• hiv,
• InfectedNZ,
• Infectious disease

HIV seems like a scourge of the eighties, but today new HIV diagnoses and the costs of medication are escalating out of control in New Zealand. The world’s most dangerous infectious disease epidemic of the modern era is being revived, fuelled by invisibility, indifference and inaction. HIV has a terrifying ability to evolve and evade control when our guard is … Read More