Andree Withey and Charmaine Kane : Jun 10, 2011
A north Queensland university's head of medicine says the closure of tuberculosis (TB) clinics in the Torres Strait, off far north Queensland, will put the Australian population at risk.
Queensland Health is in the process of closing the clinics, which are used to treat Papua New Guinea nationals who cannot access treatment in that country.
Professor Ian Wronski, from James Cook University, says tuberculosis is a re-emerging disease and the closure of the clinics is likely to see it spread into Australia.
"Bit by bit it will re-establish in the Torres - it may well be there now," he said.
"Naturally people in PNG move in the Torres Strait and people in the Torres Strait move in the Cape and we'll see tuberculosis re-establish itself in Australia.
"About 25 per cent of multi-drug resistant TB in Australia actually comes from the PNG border.
"They're very hard to treat and there's one that's extremely difficult to treat.
"We're going to see multi-drug resistant forms grow in number and percentage."
State Health Minister Geoff Wilson says he is talking to the Federal Government about re-establishing funding for the clinics.
Queensland Liberal National Party (LNP) health spokesman Mark McArdle says the distance between PNG and the Torres Strait islands is smaller than people realise.
"With a dinghy and an outboard motor, you can cross from one to the other," he said.
"This could be a very serious situation and we need to get a hold of this very quickly, otherwise it could be a disaster down the track."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/06/10/3240493.htm
A north Queensland university's head of medicine says the closure of tuberculosis (TB) clinics in the Torres Strait, off far north Queensland, will put the Australian population at risk.
Queensland Health is in the process of closing the clinics, which are used to treat Papua New Guinea nationals who cannot access treatment in that country.
Professor Ian Wronski, from James Cook University, says tuberculosis is a re-emerging disease and the closure of the clinics is likely to see it spread into Australia.
"Bit by bit it will re-establish in the Torres - it may well be there now," he said.
"Naturally people in PNG move in the Torres Strait and people in the Torres Strait move in the Cape and we'll see tuberculosis re-establish itself in Australia.
"About 25 per cent of multi-drug resistant TB in Australia actually comes from the PNG border.
"They're very hard to treat and there's one that's extremely difficult to treat.
"We're going to see multi-drug resistant forms grow in number and percentage."
State Health Minister Geoff Wilson says he is talking to the Federal Government about re-establishing funding for the clinics.
Queensland Liberal National Party (LNP) health spokesman Mark McArdle says the distance between PNG and the Torres Strait islands is smaller than people realise.
"With a dinghy and an outboard motor, you can cross from one to the other," he said.
"This could be a very serious situation and we need to get a hold of this very quickly, otherwise it could be a disaster down the track."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/06/10/3240493.htm
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