Tuberculosis outbreak on South Australia's APY Lands in far north in 2023 has hundreds of screenings in response
The tuberculosis outbreak on the APY (Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara) Lands in South Australia’s far northwest.was declared in March 2023, after 10 cases were diagnosed. The bacteria (inset) spread through the air when an infectious person coughed or sneezed.
Images courtesy Alinytjara Wilurara Landscape Board and wadsworth.org via ABC News,Adelaide.
Hundreds of people were screened as part of the South Australian government’s efforts to fight the tuberculosis outbreak in 2023 on the APY (Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara) Lands in South Australia’s far northwest.
A $1.9 million government package delivered tailored community engagement and education while giving skills to health practitioners who may not have seen tuberculosis cases before in their clinical practice. The tuberculosis outbreak was declared in March 2023, after 10 cases were diagnosed. Updated genome sequencing analyses from SA TB Services confirmed 13 cases were linked to this outbreak. This included 11 current active cases, one historical case and one death.
Authorities had previously detected tuberculosis cases in the APY lands but at a “much smaller number”, according to state government health minister Chris Picton, who said treating TB involved a "strict regime" of medications: “We're particularly concerned about it because of the remote nature of this community. People have obviously existing chronic health conditions and limited access to other healthcare services. To have an outbreak grow any larger than this would be extremely concerning."
Ongoing APY community-wide screening focused on those most at risk including close contacts and schoolchildren. The Aboriginal public health team from the health and wellbeing department, SA TB Services within the Central Adelaide Local Health Network, SA Pathology and South Australia Medical Imaging worked closely with the Nganampa Health Council and Anangu community leaders to coordinate testing, screening, contact tracing and treatment for those who require it.
The teams’ trips to the APY Lands included meeting with community, conducting community screening, coordinating healthcare and delivering communication materials in local languages. Tuberculosis was a potentially fatal disease not common in 21st Century Australia but with outbreaks across some Indigenous communities. The bacterial infection spread through the air when an infectious person coughed or sneezed. It mostly affected a person's lungs and caused fever, fatigue and a lasting cough.
South Australia’s chief public health officer professor Nicola Spurrier joined the deployment team for the August visit. Over four days, she met with health services, elders and community, visited federal ministers and helped with tuberculosis screening. She said Australia had a national strategy to eliminate TB transmission: "Unlike some other diseases, active tuberculosis can take years to develop after being infected, and months of complex medication to treat."
SA Health identified a later cluster of five active tuberculosis cases, including a child under five, in South Austraiia's Murraylands in September 2023 but said there was no link to the outbreak in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands and no risk to the wider community.