Diarrhoea, kids and tiny particles
Basically the procedure for her research over the past year has been to sift through nappies from child care centres to test their contents for the offending parasites.
“They call me the poo lady,” she quips at the nickname some of the child care centres have given her.
The former nurse and Murdoch PhD student is working with gastro-paediatrician Dr David Forbes on the first long-term study in Australia on the incidence of the parasites that are a major cause of diarrhoea in children.
Giardia and crypto are contagious (spread through contact with faeces) and cause diarrhoea, stomach upsets, and sometimes nausea and vomiting. Giardia is treatable with antibiotics; crypto is not, which poses a life-threatening problem for immuno-depressed patients, while others tend to get over it within three weeks.
Child care centres were targeted in the research because they had a good number of individuals in one place and very young children had poorly-developed hygiene skills.
Ms Walters was quick to point out that child care centres should not be perceived as having poor health practices, but that the probability of exposure to other children was greater at day care than in the community generally.
The study has been going more than 12 months, involving more than 150 children from 10 centres.
Ms Walters detected several cases late this summer and notified the centres who in turn encouraged the parents to contact Ms Walters.
“Most of them were quite relieved that the cause of the family’s diarrhoea had been found,” she said.
“Some had gone to the doctor who had said: ‘Go away, it’s viral’”
She said she advised them to see their GP armed with the test results so that it could be treated (in the case of giardia).
After completing the first part of the study early next year - surveying the incidence and prevalence of the parasite - the second stage task will be to provide education and procedures to help centres and parents restrict the spread of diarrhoea.
Already she has identified the major piece of advice (to parents) - “don’t take your kid to day care if it’s got diarrhoea!”
Ms Walters’ study is supervised by Professor Andy Thompson and Associate Professor Ian Robertson. The laboratory tests are being carried out by Aileen Elliot in the Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences labs.
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