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Economic burden of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis on patients and households: a global systematic review and meta-analysisMultidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is a major health threat worldwide, causing a significant economic burden to patients and their families. Due to the longer duration of treatment and expensive second-line medicine, the economic burden of MDR-TB is assumed to be higher than drug-susceptible TB.

Research Theme
First Nations Health and EquityAboriginal health is everyone's business. The needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and kids is integrated into all relevant areas of our work. Improving the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kids and families is an overarching priority for every team at The Kids.
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Airborne personal protective equipment availability and preparedness in Australian and New Zealand intensive care units: A point prevalence surveyPersonal protective equipment is essential to protect healthcare workers when exposed to aerosol-generating procedures in patients with airborne respiratory pathogens.
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Phage therapy could be key to conquering persistent bacterial lung infections in childrenPersistent bacterial lung infections in children lead to significant morbidity and mortality due to antibiotic resistance. In this paper, we describe how phage therapy has shown remarkable efficacy in preclinical and clinical studies, demonstrating significant therapeutic benefits through various administration routes.
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Predicting immune protection against outcomes of infectious disease from population-level effectiveness data with application to COVID-19Quantifying the extent to which previous infections and vaccinations confer protection against future infection or disease outcomes is critical to managing the transmission and consequences of infectious diseases. We present a general statistical model for predicting the strength of protection conferred by different immunising exposures (numbers, types, and strains of both vaccines and infections), against multiple outcomes of interest, whilst accounting for immune waning.
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Applying causal inference and Bayesian statistics to understanding vaccine safety signals using a simulation studyCommunity perception of vaccine safety influences vaccine uptake. Our objective was to assess current vaccine safety monitoring by examining factors that may influence the availability of post-vaccination survey data, and thereby the specificity and sensitivity of existing signal detection methods.
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Short-Term Active Safety Surveillance of the Spikevax and Nuvaxovid Priming Doses in AustraliaAustralia commenced administration of the Spikevax (Moderna mRNA-1273) COVID-19 vaccine in August 2021 and Nuvaxovid (Novavax NVX-CoV2373) in January 2022. This study describes the short-term safety profile of priming doses of the Spikevax and Nuvaxovid vaccines given between September 2021 and September 2023.
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Rhinoviruses A and C elicit long-lasting antibody responses with limited cross-neutralizationRhinoviruses (RVs) can cause severe wheezing illnesses in young children and patients with asthma. Vaccine development has been hampered by the multitude of RV types with little information about cross-neutralization. We previously showed that neutralizing antibody (nAb) responses to RV-C are detected twofold to threefold more often than those to RV-A throughout childhood. Based on those findings, we hypothesized that RV-C infections are more likely to induce either cross-neutralizing or longer-lasting antibody responses compared with RV-A infections.
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Fuzzy model for quantitative assessment of the epidemic risk of African Swine Fever within AustraliaAfrican Swine Fever (ASF) has spread rapidly across different continents since 2007 and caused huge biosecurity threats and economic losses. Establishing an effective risk assessment model is of great importance for ASF prevention, especially for those ASF-free countries such as Australia.
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Australian hospital paediatricians and nurses’ perspectives and practices for influenza vaccine delivery in children with medical comorbiditiesInfluenza vaccination of children with medical comorbidities is critical due their increased risks for severe influenza disease. In Australia, hospitals are an avenue for influenza vaccine delivery to children with comorbidities but are not always effectively utilised. Qualitative enquiry sought to ascertainment the barriers and enablers for influenza vaccination recommendation, delivery, and recording of these children at Australian hospitals.