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Associate Professor Robert Norton is a Clinical Microbiologist and Director of Microbiology and Pathology at Townsville University Hospital, as well as Associate Professor (Adjunct) at School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Queensland. He has worked in this region since 1995. After graduating in Medicine in 1980, A/Prof Norton worked primarily in clinical positions until 1991. This included working in remote Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory, where he gained an interest in infectious diseases that are prevalent in these communities. He was awarded the Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Pathologists in 1994 and completed a Doctorate in Medicine from the University of Adelaide in 1998 on Rheumatic fever.
A/Prof Norton has extensively published on infectious diseases prevalent in the tropics, including co-authoring several key research papers on Acute Rheumatic Fever/Rheumatic Heart Disease, Q fever and melioidosis. Some of these publications on the development of rapid diagnostics for infectious diseases. He has worked with CDC (Atlanta) on the development of guidelines on diagnostics and post-exposure prophylaxis in Melioidosis. He has also been involved in the setting of EUCAST antimicrobial susceptibility breakpoints for Burkolderia pseudomallei.
Recent publications of note:
Darlington C, Cunningham S, Asomah F, Norton R, (2023). Inadvertent incoculation of Apophysomyces following tetanus immunisation - a case report. Oxford medical case reports. DOI: 10.1093/omcr/omad106
Redden P, Parker K, Henderson S, Fourie P, Agnew L, Stenos J, Graves S, Govan B, Norton R, Ketheesan N, (2023). Q fever - immune responses and novel strategies. Future microbiology. DOI: 10.2217/fmb-2023-0117
Gassiep I, Burnard D, Permana B, Bauer MJ, Cuddihy T, Forde BM, Chatfield MD, Ling W, Norton R, Harris PNA, (2023). Melioidosis Queensland: An analysis of clinical outcomes and genomic factors. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0011697
Theodore SG, Sawkins HJ, Mathew M, Yadav S, Norton R, (2023). Human pulmonary dirofilariasis: an unexpected differential diagnosis for a solitary lung lesion. Medical Journal of Australia. DOI: 10.5694/mja2.52115
Ganeshalingham V, Kaestli M, Norton RE, Gassiep I, (2023). The effect of climate on melioidosis incidence in Townsville, Australia: a dry tropical region. Environmental Health and Preventative Medicine. DOI: 10.1265/ehpm.22-00177
Maisrikrod SC, Currie M, Govan BL, Norton RE, Currie BJ, Ketheesan N, Mayo M, (2023). Design and Development of an Internationally Applicable Educational Video to Increase Community Awareness in Regions with High Prevalence of Melioidosis and Diabetes. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. DOI: 10.4269/ajtmh.22-0024
Athan S, Athan D, Wong M, Hussain N, Vangaveti V, Gangathimmaiah V, Norton R, (2023). Pathology stewardship in emergency departments: a single-site, retrospective, cohort study of the value of C-reactive protein in patients with suspected sepsis. Pathology. DOI: 10.1016/j.pathol.2023.03.004
Armstrong M, Morgan J, Kazey O, Freeman K, Norton R, (2023). Comparison of Melioidosis Indirect Hemagglutination Assay between Three Testing Laboratories in Australia. Microbiology Spectrum. DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.04949-22
Hobbs MJ, Ketheesan N, Eastwood K, Massey P, Ranmuthugala G, Norton R, Quirk FH, (2022). Q Fever awareness and risk profiles among agricultural show attendees. The Australian Journal of Rural Health. DOI: 10.1111/ajr.12896
Gautam A, Wiseman G, Legg R, Lindsay D, Puvvadi R, Mariyappa Rathnamma B, Stalewski H, Norton R, White AV, (2022). Management of Pediatric Thoracic Empyema in the North Queensland Region of Australia and Impact of a Local Evidence-Based Treatment Guideline. Pediatr Infect Dis J. DOI: 10.1097/INF.0000000000003341
Gassiep I, Bauer MJ, Page M, Harris PNA, Norton R, (2022). Comparative evaluation of Panther Fusion and real-time PCR for detection of Burkholderia pseudomallei in spiked human blood. Access Microbiology. DOI: 10.1099/acmi.0.000333
Gassiep I, Bauer MJ, Harris PNA, Norton R, (2022). Speed and safety of mass spectrometry for identification of Burkholderia psuedomallei directly from spiked blood cultures. J Med Micro. DOI: 10.1099/jmm.0.001521
Westaway JAF, Huerlimann R, Kandasamy Y, Miller CM, Norton R, Watson D, Infante-Vilamil S, Rudd D, (2022). To probiotic or not to probiotic: a metagenomic comparison of the discharge gut microbiome of infants supplemented with probiotics in NICU and those who are not. Frontiers in Pediatrics. DOI: 10.3389/fped.2022.838559
Seneviratne M, Fernando ME, Kandasamy Y, White A, Sabesan V, Norton R, (2022). Cytomegalovirus infection in a single center Australian neonatal cohort. J Paediatr Child Health. DOI: 10.1111/jpc.15914
Martin F, Gilksl CF, Gibb R, Jenkins A, Protani MM, Francis F, Redmond A, Neilsen G, Mudge GW, Wolley M, Binotto E, Norton R, Nimmo GR, Heney C, (2022). Retrospective cross-sectional study of Human T-cell Leukaemia Virus Type 1 & Adult T-cell Leukaemia/Lymphoma in Queensland, Australia. Sexually Transmitted Infections. DOI: 10.1136/sextrans-2021-055241
Westaway JAF, Huerlimann R, Kandasamy Y, Miller CM, Norton R, Watson D, Infante-Vilamil S, Rudd D, (2022). A validation of at-home infant stool sample collection devices for determining the faecal microbiome. Aust J Med Sci. (In Press)
Burnard D, Bauer MJ, Falconer C, Gassiep I, Norton RE, Paterson DL, Harris PNA, (2022). Clinical Burkholderia psuedomallei isolates from north Queensland carry diverse bimABm genes that are associated with central nervous system disease and are phylogenomically distinct from other Australian strains. Plos Neg Trop Dis. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0009482
Westaway JAF, Huerlimann R, Kandasamy Y, Miller CM, Norton R, Watson D, Infante-Vilamil S, Rudd D, (2022). Exploring the long-term colonisation and persistence of probiotic-prophylaxis species on the gut microbiome of preterm infants: a pilot study. European Journal of Pediatrics. DOI: 10.1007/s00431-022-04548-y
Gassiep I, Ganeshalingam V, Chatfield MD, Harris PNA, Norton RE, (2021). Melioidosis: Laboratory Investigations and Association with Patient Outcomes. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. DOI: 10.4269/ajtmh.21-0548
You can see more of A/Prof Norton's publications here: ORCID: 0000-0003-3948-9272
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Dr Robert Norton
Director, Microbiology and Pathology
Townsville University Hospital
email: Robert.Norton@health.qld.gov.au