START Project

Searching for a Technology-driven Acute Rheumatic fever Test (START) is a collaborative trans-Tasman research study conducted by the Telethon Kids Institute, Menzies School of Health Research, University of Auckland, University of Otago and Edith Cowan University.

The study will test immune responses in blood samples from people with and without acute rheumatic fever (ARF) within Indigenous Australian communities and New Zealand Indigenous Māori and Pacific Island communities to find a unique marker that reliably identifies ARF. This will provide the basis for a confirmatory (diagnostic) blood test for ARF and possible targeted treatments that reduce development of its complication, rheumatic heart disease.