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Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a leading cause of severe respiratory infections in children and is predominantly acquired and spread in community settings such as households and early childhood education centres. This review aims to synthesise the available evidence on RSV transmission in closed community settings that include children, with a focus on secondary attack rates.
The Healthy Living Practices (HLPs) outline nine essential guidelines for maintaining health in remote Aboriginal communities, yet high costs and poor availability make them financially out of reach for many families. We assessed the cost and availability of essential goods required to support the HLPs in eight remote Kimberley community stores, recording prices during three visits in 2022 as part of the SToP (See, Treat, Prevent) Skin Sores and Scabies Trial, and retrospectively comparing these (inflation-adjusted) with Perth and Broome prices in 2024.
Vancomycin is used to treat serious gram-positive infections in children; however, effective dosing information for those aged 3 months to 18 years is limited. We aimed to determine an optimized dosing strategy for this age group.
Current immunization guidelines recommend one dose of influenza vaccine for children aged ≥9 years and two doses for younger or vaccine-naïve children. However, children receiving chemotherapy have an attenuated immune response. We performed a prospective open-label study in children undergoing treatment for cancer at Perth Children's Hospital, Western Australia, to examine the safety and efficacy of a boosted influenza schedule.
Tools that can be used to collect behavioural data during pandemics are needed to inform policy and practice. The objective of this project was to develop the Your COVID-19 Risk tool in response to the global spread of COVID-19, aiming to promote health behaviour change. We developed an online resource based on key behavioural evidence-based risk factors related to contracting and spreading COVID-19. This tool allows for assessing risk and provides instant support to protect individuals from infection.
Nirsevimab is a long-acting monoclonal antibody used to prevent respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection in infants and high-risk children. During the 2024 RSV season in Western Australia, 21 922 doses were administered to infants entering their first season and 1221 doses to at-risk children. In this context, the selection and spread of escape variants are a potential concern. This study aimed to investigate nirsevimab binding site mutations using clinical and wastewater data.
In Australia, two-thirds of emergency medical service attended out-of-hospital cardiac arrests are unwitnessed, and survival is <5% in this group. With the recent incorporation of pulselessness-detection technologies into consumer wearable devices such as smartwatches, the potential exists to convert unwitnessed arrests into device-witnessed cases.
As we finalised our analysis of the adoption of mandatory policies for childhood vaccines in four high-income jurisdictions for our publication, “Convergence on Coercion,” every country on earth was grappling with how to drive uptake of COVID-19 vaccines.
Hannah Peter Moore Richmond OAM BSc (Hons) GradDipClinEpi PhD MBBS MRCP(UK) FRACP Head, Infectious Diseases Research Head, Vaccine Trials Group 08
Hannah Tom Moore Snelling OAM BSc (Hons) GradDipClinEpi PhD BMBS DTMH GDipClinEpid PhD FRACP Head, Infectious Diseases Research Head, Infectious