Communicable Disease Applied Epidemiology in South Australia

Abstract

The South Australian Health (SA Health) Communicable Disease Control Branch (CDCB) aims to reduce the incidences of communicable and infectious diseases in South Australia (SA). This thesis details the projects undertaken as part of my field placement at CDCB. The projects comprise an epidemiological study of syphilis positivity rates and sociodemographic predictors of geographical variation in testing rates in the public pathology system in SA, an analysis of the descriptive epidemiology of varicella in SA, an outbreak of COVID-19 Delta variant at a SA winery, and an evaluation of the SA COVID-19 rapid antigen testing (RAT) surveillance system. This thesis also describes other experiences related to public health, fieldwork, presenting, and teaching undertaken during this program. Combined, these projects and experiences fulfil the major and minor requirements of the Master of Philosophy in Applied Epidemiology program at The Australian National University. Show more