News Articles
Victorian warning on death cap mushrooms
Last Updated: 14-04-2022
Victorians are being warned against consuming death cap and yellow-staining mushrooms as the poisonous varieties pop up across the state. Eating just one death cap mushroom can kill an adult, while yellow-staining mushrooms can cause severe nausea Read More...
Surge in Top End tropical disease cases
Date of Posting: 14-04-2022
Top End residents and visitors have been urged to take extra precautions to guard against a deadly tropical disease after a surge in cases. Melioidosis, which is found in soil and water, can enter the human body through cuts and sores, Northern Te Read More...
Vic hospital stretcher death prompts probe
Date of Posting: 14-04-2022
Premier Daniel Andrews has lamented "extraordinary" ongoing pressure on Victoria's health system after a 72 year old man died while waiting for hours on an ambulance stretcher at a regional hospital. The man from Paynesville was tran Read More...
'I know that you know' - 5 ways to help people with aphasia to communicate
Date of Posting: 14-04-2022
Aphasia was in the news last week when the family of actor Bruce Willis announced he was stepping back from his career due to communication difficulties. Also last week, performer Lady Gaga was praised for her supportive approach to co-presenting Read More...
Study finds genetic link between childhood and adult anxiety and depression
Last Updated: 14-04-2022
Hereditary factors are partly responsible for childhood anxiety and depression that persists into adulthood, according to University of Queensland researchers. In the largest study of its kind in the world, the genetics of 64,641 children, aged be Read More...
Long-term antibiotic use by middle-aged women may affect cognitive function - new study
Date of Posting: 14-04-2022
Antibiotics are one of the most commonly prescribed drugs in the world. They’re used to treat many different bacterial infections. While most people may only be on a course of antibiotics for a week or two at a time, some may take antibiotic Read More...
Labor's plans for aged care are targeted but fall short of what's needed
Last Updated: 14-04-2022
In his budget reply speech this week, opposition leader Anthony Albanese promised a plan to fix the “crisis in aged care”. Labor’s aged care package includes 24/7 registered nurses for all residential care facilities, bette Read More...
Mask mandate relaxed in South Australia
Date of Posting: 13-04-2022
South Australians will receive an early Easter present - a relaxed mask mandate and the mothballing of QR code check-ins. Premier Peter Malinauskas announced the changes on Tuesday, bringing the state into line with other jurisdictions in Australi Read More...
Britain widens access to Pfizer COVID drug
Date of Posting: 13-04-2022
Britain will expand access to Pfizer's oral antiviral COVID-19 treatment to thousands more people by adding it to a trial to assess how best to use the drug in its highly vaccinated population. Paxlovid, a combination of Pfizer's new pill Read More...
From 3D-printed noses to pumping hearts
Date of Posting: 13-04-2022
Surgeons and students have been slicing into spare dead bodies for centuries to hone their skills, but new technology could replace increasingly scarce cadavers. Feeling like tissue and bone to the touch, but without the gag factor and bacteria of Read More...
Bringing together physical and mental health is key to tackling suicide in defence
Date of Posting: 13-04-2022
Integrating physical and mental health care, by connecting services and addressing health system gaps, must be a priority in tackling suicide. The Australian Physiotherapy Association (APA) submission to the Royal Commission into Defence and Veter Read More...
Physiotherapy and the joy of playing a part in someone's life journey
Date of Posting: 13-04-2022
It was 35 years ago that Dr Brad McIntosh was first inspired to become a physiotherapist. And to this day, he still finds it incredibly rewarding to be in a position to make a difference in a person’s life, and to help them overcome challenges Read More...
Is a career in Public Health right for you?
Last Updated: 12-04-2022
Public health is all about improving community-wide health outcomes. There are countless ways to achieve this goal. Research, education and data analysis are all common methods that public health professionals are using for improving health in pop Read More...
Campaigns pitch jobs against health care
Date of Posting: 12-04-2022
Prime Minister Scott Morrison aims to use the second day of election campaigning to focus on a jobs creation pitch. Mr Morrison is in Sydney on Tuesday, spruiking a pledge to create 1.3 million jobs over the next five years.[subscribe] Labor le Read More...
We're two physios who ran away with the circus. Here's what we learned
Last Updated: 12-04-2022
Circus fuses extreme athletic performance, diverse artists and stunning spectacles with a truly global appeal. Circus is exciting, although sometimes unpredictable. At any moment during rehearsal, performance or travel, injuries can occur. Read More...
World-first trial finds way to reduce PFAS
Date of Posting: 12-04-2022
A world-first trial using Victorian firefighters has found a way to reduce blood levels of potentially harmful chemicals often present in fire-fighting foams. A world-first clinical trial, undertaken by Macquarie University and Fire Rescue Victori Read More...
3 orthopaedic surgeries that might be doing patients (and their pockets) more harm than good
Last Updated: 12-04-2022
Orthopaedic surgery (surgery for problems related to bones, joints, tendons and ligaments) is the third most common reason Australians go under the knife. Last year, more than 100,000 orthopaedic surgeries were performed in Australian public Read More...
New bone stabilising implant hastens mobility
Last Updated: 12-04-2022
A new implant designed by QUT biomedical engineers to stabilise a long bone fracture above the knee and enable earlier mobility has been used for the first time in an implant operation. The Biphasic Plate was recently used by a surgeon in Swizterl Read More...
Funding boost for mental health
Last Updated: 12-04-2022
Victorians will get better access to mental health care as the federal government splashes nearly $250 million on more support services. In a separate announcement, Canberra is also putting in $15 million to research the often deadly Mitochondrial Read More...
'Telephone' voting for COVID-19 iso cases
Date of Posting: 11-04-2022
Australians will still be able to vote on election day if stuck in COVID-19 isolation as a confirmed case or close contact. The Australian Electoral Commission says it will roll out a telephone voting system for those subject to isolation orders o Read More...
Rural study leads to more doctors
Date of Posting: 11-04-2022
The rural health workforce could be bolstered if medical schools accepted more students from the bush and offered more training and placements in country settings, a new study suggests. The study, involving rural clinical schools from 11 major Aus Read More...
Bacteria turning UTIs into killers
Date of Posting: 10-04-2022
An increase of drug-resistant bacteria in the community is turning simple illnesses like urinary tract infections into killers. UTIs affect half of all women and one in 20 men over their lifetimes and can usually be treated with a course of antibi Read More...
Heart failure linked to disadvantage
Date of Posting: 10-04-2022
Fact: one Australian has either a heart attack or stroke every four minutes. Together, they account for around 25,000 deaths a year. The risk factors are well known: high blood pressure, cholesterol, smoking, diabetes, poor diet, alcoholism, lack Read More...
Flu jab mandate for Vic health care staff
Date of Posting: 09-04-2022
Flu vaccinations are now mandatory for all Victorian healthcare workers. Public and private hospital staff, ambulance service workers and those in public residential aged care will need to receive their annual flu jab before August 15 each year un Read More...
SA girl in hospital with meningococcal
Date of Posting: 09-04-2022
A two-year-old girl has been diagnosed with invasive meningococcal disease in South Australia. The girl from metropolitan Adelaide is in a stable condition in hospital, SA Health confirmed on Friday.[subscribe] Multiple people who had close con Read More...
Japanese encephalitis hits NT feral pigs
Date of Posting: 09-04-2022
Health authorities have detected mosquito-borne Japanese encephalitis in feral pigs in the Northern Territory, raising fears for residents in nearby areas. More than 30 people across Australia have become infected with the virus in recent months a Read More...
Rural mums face fearful pregnancy journey
Date of Posting: 08-04-2022
Alison Pearson stood on the side of the road, cut off by floodwaters, scared she was losing her baby. Ms Pearson, from Cobar in western NSW, was on a 320km round trip to Bourke Hospital for an ultrasound after she experienced signs she might be mi Read More...
Chronic shortage of psychiatrists for vets
Date of Posting: 08-04-2022
The demands of treating mentally ill veterans are so challenging and the work so poorly paid, there is a chronic shortage of psychiatrists for those with serious psychiatric injuries, a royal commission has been told. Geoff Lazar, a lawyer with th Read More...
Climate change poses looming health crisis
Date of Posting: 08-04-2022
Australia is yet to properly acknowledge climate change as a health crisis with limited efforts to understand what's coming, researchers say. Ahead of the federal election, the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences has issued a sta Read More...
Early detection of lung cancer to be investigated
Date of Posting: 08-04-2022
Dr Annalicia Vaughan from the Centenary UTS Centre for Inflammation is the successful recipient of the Kenyon Foundation Inflammation Award for 2022. The Award, valued at $20,000, will support Dr Vaughan’s study into identifying new microbia Read More...
NSW health workers stop work over pay
Date of Posting: 07-04-2022
Thousands of NSW health workers have ramped up pressure on the state government by walking off the job as they demand recognition for fronting up to the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the state's wages cap, public sector pay increases cannot exceed Read More...
AFLW player in vaccine mandate challenge
Date of Posting: 07-04-2022
Lawyers for AFLW player Deni Varnhagen want to cross examine South Australia's chief health officer as part of a Supreme Court challenge to the state's COVID-19 vaccination mandate. The 29-year-old was kept off field and her shifts as a ca Read More...
Anti-COVID vax pharmacist banned from work
Date of Posting: 07-04-2022
A suspended Melbourne pharmacist has been accused of spreading "dangerous nonsense" about COVID-19 health restrictions and vaccinations in her bid to resume practising. Maria Stogiannis, who runs a Yarraville pharmacy, was suspended by t Read More...
Tensions over WA ambulance response delays
Date of Posting: 06-04-2022
Western Australia's health minister has criticised the state's ambulance operator amid a blowout in response times and ramping. About 10 per cent of St John WA paramedics are on leave after becoming infected with COVID-19 or being identifi Read More...
NT scraps COVID-19 vaccine pass for pubs
Date of Posting: 06-04-2022
Drinkers, diners and gamblers in the Northern Territory will no longer have to prove they are vaccinated against COVID-19 to enter licensed premises. Chief Health Officer Hugh Heggie has scrapped the vaccine pass for entertainment venues.[subscrib Read More...
Cannabis causes more cancers than tobacco
Date of Posting: 06-04-2022
Australians might think twice before puffing on a cannabis joint to ease their physical pain, with a new study finding it is more cancerous than smoking cigarettes. The research, conducted by University of Western Australia Professors Gary Hulse a Read More...
Date of Posting: 05-04-2022
Almost one in three people living with multiple sclerosis in Australia don't have access to condition-specific nursing care, an advocacy body says. MS Australia on Tuesday released its MS Nurse Care in Australia Report, which surveyed 1417 peo Read More...
Government failing on rural health
Date of Posting: 05-04-2022
Ask a medical student why they want to work in the bush, and they will just laugh. That is what a major healthcare provider says about students who have committed to work in rural Australia in return for a government-funded university place.[subsc Read More...
Only one in 100 breathe quality air
Date of Posting: 05-04-2022
The UN health agency says nearly everybody in the world breathes air that doesn't meet its standards for air quality, calling for more action to reduce fossil-fuel use, which generates pollutants that cause respiratory and blood-flow problems and Read More...
World-first research scientific breakthrough set to make paralysed people walk again
Date of Posting: 05-04-2022
Professor Tal Dvir is the extraordinary man behind a world-first breakthrough which uses patient tissue samples and technology to transform injured spinal cords. It is done via a process that mimics the development of the spinal cord in human embr Read More...
