Disease Among the Aboriginal Assignment 2022

SCABIES SKIN INFESTATION IN ABORIGINAL OR TORRES
STRAIT ISLANDER MALE INFANT ( AGES 0-12YRS OLD)
INTRODUCTION
• The burden of disease among the aboriginal or strait Torres islander is
high as compared to the general population of Australia due to the
discrepancies seen among these population in terms of morality rate
(Hendrickx et al. 2018).
• The infants belonging to the indigenous group suffer from vast number
of disease that are sometimes rarely evident among the non-indigenous
group. The rate of disease burden is high in these group due to their low
socio-economic facility and poor lifestyle.
• Scabies skin infection is highly endemic among the aboriginal or strait
Torres islander community and effect approximately 50% of the
children population, which is caused due to Group A streptococcus
(GAS) infection (Aung et al. 2018).
• Scabies is triggered by the minute mite named as Sarcoptes scabiei var.
hominis. This small mite is transmitted from one person to another or
through direct contact, where household interactions are under the
greater risk of invasion.
• 20 minute of direct contact from person-to-person is sufficient for
transmitting the infection and affects the Australian population residing
in the tropical regions, where elder people and infants are under high
risk of infection (Walton and Currie 2016).
CASE STUDY SCENARIO
• The people belonging to the aboriginal community within the
northern Australia have the high prevalent rate of skin infection
in the world that affects approximately 80% of the infant
population. The infant named X was living in the tropical region
of Australia, Darwin and was 8 months old. He was a male
infant and belonged to the aboriginal community.
• They lived in the poor developed region of Darwin and his
family members had bad hygiene and were poor in terms of their
socio-economic condition. The family members were illiterate
and no knowledge reading scabies. There were many stray dogs
present within the community and the child was exposed to such
dogs and was later infected with the scabies skin infection.
• The infant had developed the infection and the family members
were unaware of the condition and could not even provide
effective care or interventions to treat the health condition. There
was no such tradition of education since schools were not
present in the community that could increase the awareness of
the population.
SCABIES SKIN INFECTION
The infants are under high risk of adapting the health condition of scabies and other
than human it also appears in pigs, Australian wildlife and pigs. The pathogen that is
responsible for causing this infection among the animals are different as compared
to the humans. The primary route of infection in human is through direct skin
contact, bed clothes and underwear, which has been recently contaminated from an
infested individual. Scabies infection is caused due to the mite named as Sarcoptes
scabiei that burrow inside the primary layer of skin termed as epidermis and lay
eggs. The egg hatches and develop into adult mite after 1 to 2 weeks and the patient
who is infected with this condition develop scabies skin infection through an allergic
reactions. The infants are highly prevalent to the condition of scabies and are
affected by minimum of 10-15 mites (May et al. 2019). The mites infested into the
individual body and affect their immunity and scratching, which result in inoculation
of bacteria on the individual’s skin and further develop the severe condition of skin
sores affecting the tropical population of aboriginal and strait island population.
Hence, the infestation of scabies among infants result in immune-facilitated
complications such as rheumatic cardiac disease and kidney disease.
CULTURAL SAFETY IN NURSING OR MIDWIFERY
PRACTICE
Cultural safety is defined as the condition where the surrounding of the patient
is socially, emotionally and culturally safe including physical safety and the
prevalence of the disease condition id decreased. Based on the cultural safety
framework, the nurses are responsible for providing effective care to the
patient (Hartz and Geia 2017). The nurses are accountable for educating the
people of aboriginal community regarding the contact precautions after
applying scabicide and also applicable infection control procedures that will
provide care and safety to the people present in the community and also
educate them regarding this basic prevention measure. This precaution steps
will be followed within the community of the patient. Through this procedure,
the nurses will develop a culturally safe environment that will enhance the
prevention concept among the aboriginal population and decrease the
mortality rate associated with this health condition (Ali and Hall 2018).
INTERVENTION AND
THERAPY
REFERENCES
• Ali, S.H., Foster, T. and Hall, N.L., 2018. The Relationship between Infectious
Diseases and Housing Maintenance in Indigenous Australian Households.
International journal of environmental research and public health, 15(12), p.2827.
• Aung, P.T.Z., Cuningham, W., Hwang, K., Andrews, R.M., Carapetis, J., Kearns,
T., Clucas, D., McVernon, J., Simpson, J.A., Tong, S. and Campbell, P.T., 2018.
Scabies and risk of skin sores in remote Australian Aboriginal communities: A self-
controlled case series study. PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 12(7), p.e0006668.
• Hardy, M., Engelman, D. and Steer, A., 2017. Scabies: a clinical update. Australian
family physician, 46(5), p.264.
• Hartz, D. and Geia, L.K., 2017. 12 Indigenous child health. Yatdjuligin: Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander Nursing and Midwifery Care, p.212.
• Hendrickx, D., Bowen, A.C., Marsh, J.A., Carapetis, J.R. and Walker, R., 2018.
Ascertaining infectious disease burden through primary care clinic attendance
among young Aboriginal children living in four remote communities in Western
Australia. PloS one, 13(9), p.e0203684.
• May, P.J., Tong, S.Y., Steer, A.C., Currie, B.J., Andrews, R.M., Carapetis, J.R. and
Bowen, A.C., 2019. Treatment, prevention and public health management of
impetigo, scabies, crusted scabies and fungal skin infections in endemic
populations: a systematic review. Tropical Medicine & International Health, 24(3),
pp.280-293.
• Thomas, J., Carson, C.F., Peterson, G.M., Walton, S.F., Hammer, K.A., Naunton,
M., Davey, R.C., Spelman, T., Dettwiller, P., Kyle, G. and Cooper, G.M., 2016.
Therapeutic potential of tea tree oil for scabies. The American journal of tropical
medicine and hygiene, 94(2), pp.258-266.
• Walton, S.F. and Currie, B.J., 2016. Scabies. In Neglected Tropical Diseases-
Oceania (pp. 249-272). Springer, Cham.
The condition of scabies skin infection affects majorly the population of
aboriginal community, where the rate of prevalence is high among infant
male child exhibiting every 7 out of 10 infants suffer from this condition
prior to their first birthday. The scabies infection is associated with the
bacterial infection that further leads to the development of skin sores.
According to the nursing or midwifery practice, the individual suffering
from this skin infection must adapt the contact precaution method where
they will exclude or isolate themselves and undergo treatment for
preventing the condition of scabies (Hardy, Engelman and Steer 2017).
The primary role of the nurse is to educate the people regarding the skin
infection and also guide them regarding the prevention strategies that
they should incorporate in their daily life. Tea tree oil (TTO) is one of the
most used treatment method that has been effective from past several
decades. TTO is the antimicrobial agent with enhanced clinical efficiency
as compared to the scabicidal agents like ivermectin and permethrin. The
drugs such as Crotamiton, Stromectol, Lindane lotion and Permethrin
cream is used for treating the condition of scabies skin infection (Thomas
et al. 2016).