Check4Strep: A Community-Based Pilot Project to Understand and Respond to Infection with Group A Streptococcus

first_page Download PDF settings Order Article Reprints Font Type: Arial Georgia Verdana Font Size: Aa Aa Aa Line Spacing:    Column Width:    Background: Open AccessAbstract Check4Strep: A Community-Based Pilot Project to Understand and Respond to Infection with Group A Streptococcus † by Olivia WalshOlivia Walsh SciProfiles Scilit Preprints.org Google Scholar 1,*, Vicki WadeVicki Wade SciProfiles Scilit Preprints.org Google Scholar 1, Rachel BurgessRachel Burgess SciProfiles Scilit Preprints.org Google Scholar 2, Valerina MungatopiValerina Mungatopi SciProfiles Scilit Preprints.org Google Scholar 1, Patrick GrantPatrick Grant SciProfiles Scilit Preprints.org Google Scholar 1, Segora BabuiSegora Babui SciProfiles Scilit Preprints.org Google Scholar 1, Ella MeumannElla Meumann SciProfiles Scilit Preprints.org Google Scholar 1, Bianca MiddletonBianca Middleton SciProfiles Scilit Preprints.org Google Scholar 1, Mark DaviesMark Davies SciProfiles Scilit Preprints.org Google Scholar 3, Asha BowenAsha Bowen SciProfiles Scilit Preprints.org Google Scholar 4,5,6, Rosemary WyberRosemary Wyber SciProfiles Scilit Preprints.org Google Scholar 4 and Anna RalphAnna Ralph SciProfiles Scilit Preprints.org Google Scholar 1 1 Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, Tiwi, Darwin 0810, Australia 2 END RHD, The Kids Research Institute Australia, Perth 6009, Australia 3 Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne 3010, Australia 4 Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Disease, The Kids Research Institute, Perth 6009, Australia 5 School of Medicine, University of Western Australia, Perth 6009, Australia 6 Department of Infectious Diseases, Perth Children's Hospital, Perth 6009, Australia * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. † Presented at the 22nd Lancefield International Symposium on Streptococci and Streptococcal Diseases, Brisbane, Australia, 1–5 June 2025. Proceedings 2025, 124(1), 23; https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2025124023 Published: 26 August 2025 (This article belongs to the Proceedings of The 22nd Lancefield International Symposium on Streptococci and Streptococcal Diseases (LISSSD 2025)) Download keyboard_arrow_down Download PDF Download PDF with Cover Download XML Download Epub Versions Notes Keywords: acute rheumatic fever; group A streptococcus; participatory action research Background: 'Check4Strep' is a community-based, participatory action research (PAR) pilot study in a remote northern territory community. Aim: Its purpose is to co-design methods for studying Strep A burden and transmission that are acceptable and beneficial to community members. A better understanding of Strep A transmission pathways could inform treatment and primordial and primary ARF prevention through public health advice.Methods: Activities are conducted according to the 'Plan–Act–Observe–Reflect' (PAR) cycle. Up to 80 individuals will be enrolled during community swabbing days, with detection of ~10 positive Strep A samples anticipated. Participants will be invited to consent for swabs of the throat, purulent/crusted skin lesion (if present), palmar surface, nasal discharge (if present), and clothing. Swabs will be dispatched for culture and, if Strep A-positive, genomic sequencing; duplicate swabs will be collected from throats for point-of-care testing (Abbott ID NOW S. pyogenes). To infer transmissibility from the throat, cough samples will be obtained using an agar plate held 20 cm from the mouth, plus an air sampler (Coriolis Micro Air Sampler, Bertin Technologies, Paris, France) at 250 L/min. Community researchers will complete demographic and social network surveys and co-facilitate knowledge sharing around Strep A transmission.Results: Outcomes from implementing the initial PAR cycle will be presented, including consultation with community members and organisations, the employment of community-based researchers, and two-way information sharing about Strep A, including traditional remedies, the design and testing of community sample collection activities, and preliminary microbiology results.Conclusions: 'Check4Strep' will demonstrate Strep A recovery rates from different sample types and achieve effective knowledge sharing and two-way capacity building to form the basis of a longitudinal study. Author ContributionsConceptualization, A.R. and R.W.; methodology, A.R., R.W., R.B., V.W., O.W., A.B., E.M., M.D., V.M., P.G., S.B. and B.M.; resources, A.B. and R.B.; writing—original draft preparation, O.W. and A.R.; writing—review and editing, V.W., R.B., B.M., A.B. and E.M.; project administration, O.W.; funding acquisition, R.B., A.B., M.D., V.W., A.R., R.W. and O.W. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.FundingThis research was funded by the STARFISH NHMRC Synergy Grant, GNT 201076. Contents of any published material are solely the responsibility of the participating centres or individual authors and do not reflect the views of the NHMRC.Institutional Review Board StatementThe study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and approved by the NT Health and Menzies School of Health Research Ethics Committee (HREC 24-4909, approved 6 September 2024).Informed Consent StatementInformed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.Data Availability StatementThe data used for analysis in this study are available upon reasonable request from the corresponding author, subject to approval from the STARFISH Indigenous Governance Council and Check4Strep Investigators.Conflicts of InterestThe authors declare no conflict of interest. Disclaimer/Publisher's Note: The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of MDPI and/or the editor(s). MDPI and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content. © 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Share and Cite MDPI and ACS Style Walsh, O.; Wade, V.; Burgess, R.; Mungatopi, V.; Grant, P.; Babui, S.; Meumann, E.; Middleton, B.; Davies, M.; Bowen, A.; et al. Check4Strep: A Community-Based Pilot Project to Understand and Respond to Infection with Group A Streptococcus. Proceedings 2025, 124, 23. https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2025124023 AMA Style Walsh O, Wade V, Burgess R, Mungatopi V, Grant P, Babui S, Meumann E, Middleton B, Davies M, Bowen A, et al. Check4Strep: A Community-Based Pilot Project to Understand and Respond to Infection with Group A Streptococcus. Proceedings. 2025; 124(1):23. https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2025124023 Chicago/Turabian Style Walsh, Olivia, Vicki Wade, Rachel Burgess, Valerina Mungatopi, Patrick Grant, Segora Babui, Ella Meumann, Bianca Middleton, Mark Davies, Asha Bowen, and et al. 2025. "Check4Strep: A Community-Based Pilot Project to Understand and Respond to Infection with Group A Streptococcus" Proceedings 124, no. 1: 23. https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2025124023 APA Style Walsh, O., Wade, V., Burgess, R., Mungatopi, V., Grant, P., Babui, S., Meumann, E., Middleton, B., Davies, M., Bowen, A., Wyber, R., & Ralph, A. (2025). Check4Strep: A Community-Based Pilot Project to Understand and Respond to Infection with Group A Streptococcus. Proceedings, 124(1), 23. https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2025124023 Article Metrics No No Article Access Statistics Multiple requests from the same IP address are counted as one view.