JCSMHS PhD candidate wins the ‘Session's Best Presentation’ at the 5th International Conference on Public Health

July 2019

Ajaree Rayanakorn, a PhD candidate at Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine and Health Sciences, has won the ‘Session's Best Presentation’ in Health Services Management (Student Session) at the 5th International Conference on Public Health (ICOPH) from 10 to 12 July 2019 in Kuala Lumpur.

Her presentation entitled ‘Prediction score for Streptococcus suis hearing loss: a neglected disease in need of increased public health awareness’ aims to develop a simple clinical risk score in predicting the risk of hearing loss among Streptococcus suis (S.suis) infected patients.

S.suis is an emerging zoonosis and a leading cause of adult bacterial meningitis in many developing countries.  The highest prevalence rate is in Southeast Asia where pig farming and raw pork consumption are common.

Sensorineural hearing loss is the most common clinical complications among S.suis survivors, which is usually irreversible despite effective treatment, and this potentially results in large economic burden.

Her research has made significant findings, revealing that raw pork, meningitis and vertigo were strong predictors associated with S.suis hearing loss.

The simple clinical risk score developed can be useful to identify patients who are at high risk of S.suis hearing loss and applied in primary care settings to promote early detection.

This study would be helpful and of special interest for clinicians and academic in the field as well as healthcare policymakers to raise public awareness about this life-threatening disease especially in settings with existence of raw pork consumption and to improve patient outcomes.

Currently, Ajaree is working with Dr Lee Learn Han and Dr Goh Bey Hing from Monash University Malaysia, along with Professor Peninnah Oberdorfer and Dr Wasan Katip from Chiang Mai University, Thailand, toward publishing her research.