The Northern Territory Disease Control Bulletin
Disease Control Bulletin
Territory Health Services, Centre for Disease Control
Northern Territory disease control bulletin; E-Journals; PublicationNT; Northern Territory disease control bulletin
2002-03
Casuarina
Date:2002-03; This publication contains may contain links to external sites. These external sites may no longer be active.; Made available via the Publications (Legal Deposit) Act 2004 (NT).
English
Communicable diseases; Reporting; Northern Territory; Statistics; Periodicals
Northern Territory Government
Casuarina
Northern Territory disease control bulletin
v. 9 no. 1
application/pdf
1440-883X
Attribution International 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)
Northern Territory Government
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/233806
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/655675
The Northern Territory Disease Control Bulletin Vol 9, No.1, March 2002 16 Learning Objectives 1. To increase knowledge of the distinct epidemiology of STIs in the NT, in order to apply this knowledge to clinical practice and STI/HIV program development. 2. To understand some of the key population health concepts of STI control. 3. To increase awareness of the documented deficiencies in current STI/HIV knowledge and practice by clinicians in the NT, in order to apply this awareness to future practice. 4. To learn about recent advances in diagnostics and therapeutics of STIs and HIV. 5. To learn about the diagnosis, investigation and clinical management of a number of STI syndromes, including vulval pain, pelvic inflammatory disease and genital discharge. 6. To increase knowledge and skills in the difficult area of interpretation of syphilis serology. References 1. NT Notifiable Diseases Database, Territory Health Services. 2. Morgan, S. Knowledge and practices of sexually transmitted diseases by General Practitioners in the Top End of Australia. NT Dis Control Bull 2001;8 (3):6-10. 3. Skov S et al. STD/HIV Strategy for the Darwin Remote Region: Phase 1, Territory Health Services, 2000. ************* Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: recent guidelines and local initiatives Tarun Weeramanthri, CDC Darwin, Rosemary Lee, Darwin Rural Services, Graeme Maguire, Menzies School of Health Research and Rosaleen Reilly, NT DHCS Background Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a progressive condition characterised by airflow limitation that is not completely reversed by bronchodilators. The term is synonymous with Chronic Obstructive Airways Disease (COAD) and Chronic Airflow Limitation (CAL). It encompasses such conditions as emphysema and chronic bronchitis, and sometimes bronchiectasis is also included. It is often difficult to distinguish it from chronic or episodic asthma, which is characterised by reversible airflow limitation, and sometimes asthma and COPD overlap. COPD is an important public health problem in Australia. In 1996, there were 300,000 people with COPD in Australia, and an estimated 20,000 new cases are diagnosed each year.1 It is the 4th leading cause of death in Australia and the incidence is increasing rapidly in women. Tobacco smoking is the major causative factor in 80% of cases. COPD is one of the top three causes of premature death, illness and disability in NT Aboriginal people (along with cardiovascular disease and injury). The main risk factor, tobacco smoking, is more common in the Indigenous population, and low birth weight and repeated childhood chest infections may also be contributing to the high burden of adult disease. Death rates in Aboriginal Territorians are many times higher than in Australians generally, particularly in females. Hospitalisation rates for COPD showed a dramatic rise in both NT Aboriginal men and women from 1983 to 1997, while remaining relatively constant in nonAboriginal people.2 However, despite the above data, COPD has not received the attention it merits, because there has been an air of despondency around its management, and possibly also a perception that it is self-inflicted. This attitude of therapeutic nihilism is changing because of recent advances in non-pharmacological therapies, and the development and dissemination of evidencebased guidelines. The Global Initiative for Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) is a WHO collaborative project, which aims to raise public awareness, improve prevention and management, and stimulate research. It has released a global