Investigators: Chris Blyth, Hannah Moore, Janice Lim, Nick De Klerk, Parveen Fathima, Rosie Barnes
External collaborators: Dr Kathryn Glass (Australian National University, Canberra), Dr Alexandra Hogan (Imperial College London)
Chest infections, like influenza and pneumonia, are a major cause of illness in children, particularly in Aboriginal children. By bringing together information that is stored on public records, we will describe the viruses and bacteria that are associated with chest infections in Western Australian children over a 16 year period. Some of our key findings highlight that 2 of the most common viruses in children are not vaccine preventable and respiratory infections are still a major cause of hospital admission and presentation to emergency departments.