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Papua New Guinea (PNG) introduced the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) in 2014, with administration at 1, 2, and 3 months of age. PCV13 has reduced or eliminated carriage of vaccine types in populations with low pneumococcal carriage prevalence, carriage density and serotype diversity.
Centre Head, Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases; Honorary and NHMRC Career Development Fellow, Paediatric Infectious Diseases Physician and Clinical Microbiologist
Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) causes a significant burden of illness for children under 2 years of age. Nirsevimab, a long-acting monoclonal antibody, was registered for RSV prevention in Australia in 2023. In April 2024, Western Australia (WA) launched the country's first state-wide nirsevimab program for all infants and high-risk children entering their second RSV season.
Detection of pneumonia-causing respiratory viruses in the nasopharynx of asymptomatic children has made their actual contribution to pneumonia unclear. We compared nasopharyngeal viral density between children with and without pneumonia to understand if viral density could be used to diagnose pneumonia.
PAEDS monitors for key vaccine preventable conditions and severe side effects from vaccine in 5 paediatric hospitals in Australia.
The objective of this study was to describe the occurrence of skin infection associated hospitalizations in children born in Western Australia (WA).
The introduction of a formal medical team to Hospital in the Home (HiTH) demonstrated a positive clinical impact on Parenteral Antimicrobial Therapy (OPAT) patients' outcomes.
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a major cause of acute lower respiratory infections globally in children under five years. With the development of RSV prevention strategies, understanding risk factors and relation to age and population is useful for deciding the type of program implemented.
Western Australia experiences multiple climatic zones, influencing the epidemiology of respiratory viruses. We aimed to estimate the true incidence of respiratory syncytial virus and influenza hospitalizations across these different climatic regions using predictive modelling.
Pneumonia is the leading cause of death in young children globally and is prevalent in the Papua New Guinea highlands. We investigated clinical predictors of hypoxic pneumonia to inform local treatment guidelines in this resource-limited setting.