Research into gastro outbreak funded

Hawke's Bay DHB medical officer of health Dr Nicholas Jones will lead a study into the campylobacter water contamination.

A new in-depth analysis of last year's Havelock North gastro outbreak has received government funding to help health officials, local authorities and communities be better prepared for any such outbreaks in the future.

Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC) chief executive Professor Kath McPherson announced $437,949 would be invested in the research programme.

HRC was the agency responsible for managing the Government's investment in health research and Professor McPherson said this special funding allocation was awarded because of the significance of New Zealand's largest water-supply contamination event.

She said it was important to take the opportunity to learn from it so it didn't happen again. "Or at the very least that we can respond much quicker to greatly lessen the impact on people's health," she said.

The research would bring together experts from across the health and academic sectors to support the region, and was expected to take about two years.

Hawke's Bay DHB medical officer of health Dr Nicholas Jones would lead the programme with Professor Michael Baker from the University of Otago's Department of Public Health in Wellington.

Lead investigators included Dr Brent Gilpin, Dr Jillian Sherwood, Dr Claire Newbern and Dr Mehnaz Adnan from ESR (Institute of Environmental Science and Research), Dr Tiffany Walker, Dr Colin Hutchinson and Dr Tim Frendin from Hawke's Bay DHB, and Dr Jonathan Marshall from Massey University.

Dr Anita Jagroop-Dearing from Eastern Institute of Technology (EIT) would manage the research.

Various aspects of the outbreak would be covered including the public health sector's response to it, the longer-term health effects of the outbreak, and non-traditional early warning detection tools that could have potentially helped public health professionals identify the outbreak sooner.

While the government-appointed inquiry, which was due to report back in December, was also looking at similar issues, Professor McPherson said this programme would take a more expansive approach to collecting and analysing data.

Dr Jones said despite Hawke's Bay DHB and local councils having already gathered extensive data on human illness, exposure and risk factors, and drinking water and environmental sources of campylobacter, there was an opportunity for further analysis to gain maximum benefit.

"Thanks to the HRC's funding, we'll be able to delve further into the detail to gain insights into the health impacts of a gastroenteritis outbreak of this scale, as well as evaluate the effectiveness of public health interventions and messaging," Dr Jones said.

"All New Zealand communities will benefit from the programme's findings. The results will also be of international interest as documented water supply outbreaks of this size are unusual."