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Perth children are being asked to volunteer for an important national study to test the effectiveness of an influenza vaccine in children.
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a leading cause of acute lower respiratory tract infection in young children and the second leading cause of infant death worldwide. While global circulation has been extensively studied for respiratory viruses such as seasonal influenza, and more recently also in great detail for SARS-CoV-2, a lack of global multi-annual sampling of complete RSV genomes limits our understanding of RSV molecular epidemiology.
Children in low-mid income countries, and First Nations children in high-income countries, experience disproportionately high rates of Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae infections and diseases including pneumonia and otitis media.
Respiratory viruses are increasingly detected in children with community-acquired pneumonia but prevalence estimates vary substantially. We aimed to systematically review and pool estimates for 22 viruses commonly associated with community-acquired pneumonia.
Monitoring how the incidence of influenza infections changes over time is important for quantifying the transmission dynamics and clinical severity of influenza. Infection incidence is difficult to measure directly, and hence, other quantities which are more amenable to surveillance are used to monitor trends in infection levels, with the implicit assumption that they correlate with infection incidence.
The nasal epithelium is the primary point of contact for inhaled respiratory viruses such as rhinovirus, respiratory syncytial virus, influenza, and coronavirus, among others. In order to establish infection, these viruses must engage their respective receptors located on host epithelial cells and begin replication.
We evaluated the frequency of moderate and severe adverse events following coadministration of seasonal influenza vaccine (SIV) versus placebo with COVID-19 vaccines among adults to support practice guidelines.
Monitoring the number of COVID-19 patients in hospital beds was a critical component of Australia's real-time surveillance strategy for the disease. From 2021 to 2023, we produced short-term forecasts of bed occupancy to support public health decision-making.
SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid (N) protein antibodies can be used to identify the serological response to natural infection in those who have previously received a COVID-19 spike-based vaccine. Anti-N antibody responses can also be induced by inactivated whole SARS-CoV-2 virus vaccines, such as CoronaVac. We aimed to characterise antibody responses to the N protein following COVID-19 and following vaccination with CoronaVac.
The airway mucosal epithelium is the main gateway of entry for numerous human respiratory viruses, including human influenza virus, respiratory syncytial virus, coronavirus, and rhinoviruses. For respiratory viruses to perpetuate infection, they must be able to traverse the airway mucosal epithelium and then spread into distal sites of the respiratory tract and lung parenchyma.