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Research

The collaboration on social science and immunisation (COSSI): Global lessons from a successful Australian research and practice network

Samantha Carlson SC BSc MPH PhD Senior Research Officer Samantha.carlson@telethonkids.org.au Senior Research Officer @samicarlson ORCID Dr Carlson is

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Respiratory syncytial virus in children: epidemiology and clinical impact post-COVID-19

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) remains a leading cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. RSV seasonality was disrupted by COVID-19-associated nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs). We review RSV seasonality, molecular epidemiology, clinical manifestations, and community awareness to inform future prevention strategies. 

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Superior immunogenicity of mRNA over adenoviral vectored COVID-19 vaccines reflects B cell dynamics independent of anti-vector immunity: Implications for future pandemic vaccines

Both vector and mRNA vaccines were an important part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and may be required in future outbreaks and pandemics. The aim of this study was to validate whether immunogenicity differs for adenoviral vectored (AdV) versus mRNA vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, and to investigate how anti-vector immunity and B cell dynamics modulate immunogenicity. 

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Acute lower respiratory infections (ALRI) in Indigenous and non-Indigenous children

In Australia and many other developed countries, acute lower respiratory infection (ALRI) is one of the most common reasons for hospitalisation in young...

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Lessons from the first year of the WAIVE study investigating the protective effect of influenza vaccine

Influenza is major cause of paediatric hospitalisation. Influenza vaccine was offered to all children aged 6-59 months resident in Western Australia in 2008

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Risk factors and comorbidities for invasive pneumococcal disease in Western Australian Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people

Australian Aboriginal people have among the highest rates of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) worldwide. This paper investigates clinical diagnosis, risk...

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Community-wide versus school-based targeted deworming for soil-transmitted helminth control in school-aged children in Vietnam: the CoDe-STH cluster-randomised controlled trial

Soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infection control programs typically consist of school-based preventive chemotherapy (PC) targeted to school-aged children. STH reservoirs in untreated community members contribute to ongoing transmission in children. The CoDe-STH (Community Deworming against STH) trial, conducted in Dak Lak province, Vietnam, between October 2019 and November 2020, aimed to determine whether community-wide mass drug administration (MDA) is more effective than school-based targeted PC in reducing STH prevalence and intensity in children.

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Association between pertussis vaccination in infancy and childhood asthma: A population-based record linkage cohort study

Asthma is among the commonest noncommunicable diseases of childhood and often occurs with other atopic comorbidities. A previous case-control study found evidence that compared to children who received acellular pertussis (aP) vaccines in early infancy, children who received one or more doses of whole-cell pertussis (wP) vaccine had lower risk of developing IgE-mediated food allergy. We hypothesized that wP vaccination in early infancy might protect against atopic asthma in childhood. 

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The causal impact of mental health on tobacco and alcohol consumption: An instrumental variables approach

The reciprocal relationship between psychiatric and substance use disorders is well-known, yet it remains largely unknown whether mental health morbidity causally leads to addictive behaviours. This paper utilises a fixed effects instrumental variables model, which is identified by time-varying sources of plausibly exogenous variations in mental health, and a nationally representative panel dataset from Australia to present robust evidence on the causal impact of mental distress on cigarette smoking and alcohol drinking behaviours.

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Health service utilisation for acute respiratory infections in infants graduating from the neonatal intensive care unit: a population-based cohort study

Despite advances in neonatal intensive care, babies admitted to Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU) suffer from adverse outcomes. We aim to describe the longer-term respiratory infectious morbidity of infants discharged from NICU using state-wide population-based linked data in Western Australia.