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Maternal influenza and pertussis vaccination is an important strategy to reduce morbidity and mortality in infants. Previous vaccine safety studies have mostly focused on the association between maternal vaccination and fetal death.
Serosurveys are considered as a valuable tool in estimating population immunity and infection rates but recruitment of children to provide paediatric estimates can be challenging. A novel approach of sampling children undergoing anaesthesia was utilised for a SARS-CoV-2 serosurvey in Australian children and we explore the reasons for participation, feedback on the approach and importance of research into Coronavirus Diseases 2019 (COVID-19).
Convalscent plasma (CP) was identified as a potential therapy for COVID-19 available early in the pandemic.
Invasive mould infection (IMI) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised children. Outcomes for paediatric patients with IMI remain poor, due in part to the limitations of available diagnostic tools and therapeutic agents.
Dynamic molecular changes in early life follow a robust ontogeny as the infant immune system adapts to the demands of its new environment. Studies of plasma immunomodulatory cytokines and chemokines have previously demonstrated ontogenetic patterns of immune development across the first week of life. However, how plasma cytokine and chemokines concentrations evolve over the first 4 months of life remains unknown.
Otitis media (OM), or middle ear infection, is one of the most common childhood illnesses globally. In Australia, OM remains a leading cause of antibiotic prescriptions in children, despite growing awareness of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and the need for stewardship. Preventing OM not only reduces the burden of disease but also plays a critical role in curbing unnecessary antibiotic use and slowing the rise of AMR.
Concerns regarding adverse events following immunisation are a barrier to vaccine uptake. Health professionals use vaccine safety surveillance systems (VSSS) to monitor vaccines and inform the public of safety data. With little known about public attitudes, perceptions, and experiences with VSSS, we examined them in the context of COVID-19 vaccinations in Western Australia.
Immunocompromised hosts experience more breakthrough infections and worse clinical outcomes following infection with COVID-19 than immunocompetent people. Prophylactic monoclonal antibody therapies can be challenging to access, and escape variants emerge rapidly. Immunity conferred through vaccination remains a central prevention strategy for COVID-19.
Among genes present in all group A streptococci (GAS), those encoding M-fibril and T-pilus proteins display the highest levels of sequence diversity, giving rise to the two primary serological typing schemes historically used to define strain. A new genotyping scheme for the pilin adhesin and backbone genes is developed and, when combined with emm typing, provides an account of the global GAS strain population.
The Western Australia (WA) Respiratory Infections Linked Data Platform is a population-based cohort established to investigate the epidemiology of RSV and other respiratory infections in children aged 0-10 years, incorporating microbiological testing patterns, hospital admissions, emergency department presentations, and socio-demographic data.