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Consensus guidelines for antifungal stewardship, surveillance and infection prevention, 2021Invasive fungal diseases (IFD) are serious infections associated with high mortality, particularly in immunocompromised patients. The prescribing of antifungal agents to prevent and treat IFD is associated with substantial economic burden on the health system, high rates of adverse drug reactions, significant drug-drug interactions and the emergence of antifungal resistance.
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Does a major change to a COVID-19 vaccine program alter vaccine intention? A qualitative investigationOn 8th April 2021, the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) made the Pfizer-BioNtech (Comirnaty) vaccine the “preferred” vaccine for adults in Australia aged < 50 years due to a risk of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) following AstraZeneca vaccination. We sought to understand whether this impacted COVID-19 vaccine intentions.
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Comparison of group A streptococcal titres in healthy children and those with pharyngitis and skin infectionsRates of acute rheumatic fever, a sequelae of group A Streptococcal (GAS) infection, remain unacceptably high in Indigenous Māori and Pacific children in New Zealand. This prospective study aimed to describe GAS antibody titres in healthy children (5–14 years) by ethnicity, and to determine how paired titres vary with GAS culture positive and negative pharyngitis, and GAS skin infections.
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Respiratory follow-up to improve outcomes for Aboriginal children: twelve key stepsAmong Aboriginal children, the burden of acute respiratory tract infections (ALRIs) with consequent bronchiectasis post-hospitalisation is high. Clinical practice guidelines recommend medical follow-up one-month following discharge, which provides an opportunity to screen and manage persistent symptoms and may prevent bronchiectasis.
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Seroprevalence and associated risk factors of chikungunya, dengue, and Zika in eight districts in TanzaniaThis study was conducted to determine the seroprevalence and risk factors of chikungunya (CHIKV), dengue (DENV), and Zika (ZIKV) viruses in Tanzania.
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Opisthorchis viverrini and Strongyloides stercoralis mono- and co-infections: Bayesian geostatistical analysis in an endemic area, ThailandParasitic infections caused by Opisthorchis viverrini and Strongyloides stercoralis remain a major public health threat in the Greater Mekong Sub-region. An understanding of climate and other environmental influences on the geographical distribution and emergence of parasitic diseases is a crucial step to guide targeted control and prevention programs.
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Investigating differences in village-level heterogeneity of malaria infection and household risk factors in Papua New GuineaMalaria risk is highly heterogeneous. Understanding village and household-level spatial heterogeneity of malaria risk can support a transition to spatially targeted interventions for malaria elimination. This analysis uses data from cross-sectional prevalence surveys conducted in 2014 and 2016 in two villages (Megiar and Mirap) in Papua New Guinea.
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Emulator-based Bayesian optimization for efficient multi-objective calibration of an individual-based model of malariaIndividual-based models have become important tools in the global battle against infectious diseases, yet model complexity can make calibration to biological and epidemiological data challenging. We propose using a Bayesian optimization framework employing Gaussian process or machine learning emulator functions to calibrate a complex malaria transmission simulator.
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Temporal changes in BEXSERO® antigen sequence type associated with genetic lineages of Neisseria meningitidis over a 15-year period in Western AustraliaThe BEXSERO® vaccine which is used to prevent serogroup B disease is composed of four sub-capsular protein antigens supplemented with an outer membrane vesicle.
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Duplex quantitative PCR assay for detection of haemophilus influenzae that distinguishes fucose-and protein d-negative strainsDeveloped a specific Haemophilus influenzae quantitative PCR (qPCR) that also identifies fucose-negative and protein D-negative strains