The Medical journal of Australia
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Every diagnostic test in medicine has costs and potential benefits. Doctors must ensure that the benefits of each test performed outweigh the costs, which include financial considerations and risks to the health of the patient. ⋯ Seemingly "non-invasive" tests involve the use of ionising radiation and carry the risk of causing malignant tumours. This risk is widely underestimated in medical practice in Australia, and it is the responsibility of the radiological community to demonstrate that commonly performed investigations result in a net benefit to patients.
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To investigate the epidemiology of WA MRSA (the recently recognised Western Australian strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) in the north of the Northern Territory (NT). ⋯ Changes in the epidemiology of MRSA infection in the north of the NT are consistent with the hypothesis that community-acquired WA MRSA spread into and across the NT from the Kimberley region of WA. Alternatively, crowded living conditions, hygiene difficulties and increasing use of broad spectrum antibiotics may have led to independent emergence of WA MRSA in both regions. Current infection control policies and their use in rural Aboriginal communities must be reassessed.