Location:
The Kirby Institute Level 6 Seminar Room Wallace Wurth Building UNSW Australia Sydney NSW 2052
Open to
All
Contact for enquiries
Rata Joseph +61 (0)2 9385 0900 rjoseph@kirby.unsw.edu.au
The Kirby Institute is pleased to present:
Ms Lucia Romani-Clinical Trials Coordinator, Kirby Institute
"Mass drug administration strategies to control scabies in a highly endemic population: the SHIFT trial."
Abstract:
Recently added to the World Health Organization list of neglected tropical diseases, scabies is an under-recognised cause of morbidity in many developing countries. It is strongly associated with impetigo which can lead to systemic infection, leading to septicaemia and other serious syndromes including glomerulonephritis which can contribute to chronic renal disease, and rheumatic heart disease. An estimated 100 million people are affected by scabies each year, most in tropical countries. Pacific Island countries have a particularly high burden, with Fiji recording scabies prevalence of over 20%. To strengthen the evidence base for scabies control in highly effected communities, we undertook the world’s first comparative trial of mass drug administration (MDA) for scabies, the Skin Health Intervention Fiji Trial (SHIFT).
We randomly assigned three island communities, comparable in population demographics, to one of three different interventions for scabies control: standard care based on permethrin treatment of clinical cases and their contacts; permethrin-based MDA; or ivermectin-based MDA. The primary endpoint was the change in prevalence of scabies at one year.
Biography:
Lucia Romani is an epidemiologist and PhD candidate at the Kirby Institute. For the past eight years she has been involved in research on the control of scabies in Fiji, which has one of the highest levels recorded in the world. With support from a NHMRC Project Grant, Lucia has coordinated a trial of mass treatment strategies for scabies control, the SHIFT trial. The project is a collaboration between Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Fiji Ministry of Health and UNSW. Lucia has also conducted the first national prevalence survey for scabies and impetigo in the general population, collecting data on over 10,000 people in Fiji.