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This project investigates how different populations of cells within the respiratory tract immune system are altered during a viral infection.
Latest news & events at the Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines & Infectious Diseases.
Clinical Professor Tobias Strunk, Dr Andrew Currie and their Neonatal Infection and Immunity Team have become the newest members of the Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases.
Estimating the temporal trends in infectious disease activity is crucial for monitoring disease spread and the impact of interventions. Surveillance indicators routinely collected to monitor these trends are often a composite of multiple pathogens. For example, "influenza-like illness"-routinely monitored as a proxy for influenza infections-is a symptom definition that could be caused by a wide range of pathogens, including multiple subtypes of influenza, SARS-CoV-2, and RSV.
To assess parental awareness of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and the level of acceptance of future RSV prevention strategies. A cross-sectional online survey was implemented targeting "future" and "current" parents of children aged ≤5 years in Australia.
Seasonal influenza vaccine is effective against influenza hospitalisations, but little is known about non-specific effects of the vaccine on other respiratory pathogens with similar seasonal patterns. We aimed to assess the causal impact of seasonal influenza vaccine on laboratory-confirmed hospitalisations for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in children using an instrumental variable strategy.
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.
During winter months of temperate regions, concurrent epidemics of multiple respiratory pathogens can occur, causing periods of increased clinical burden. Case time series, which are predominantly used to monitor infection levels, can exhibit substantial noise and day-of-the-week effects, limiting the visual interpretation of trends in raw data.
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.
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.