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Research

Towards the establishment of the PREVAIL Centre, a Centre for PREcision in VAccine ImpLmentation at The Kids Research Institute Australia

Pat Tom Holt Snelling PG T PhD, DSc, FRCPath, FRCPI, FAA BMBS DTMH GDipClinEpid PhD FRACP Emeritus Honorary Researcher Head, Infectious Disease

Research

among children with pneumonia using a causal Bayesian network

Pneumonia remains a leading cause of hospitalization and death among young children worldwide, and the diagnostic challenge of differentiating bacterial from non-bacterial pneumonia is the main driver of antibiotic use for treating pneumonia in children. Causal Bayesian networks (BNs) serve as powerful tools for this problem as they provide clear maps of probabilistic relationships between variables and produce results in an explainable way by incorporating both domain expert knowledge and numerical data.

Research

Core protocol for the adaptive Platform Trial In COVID-19 Vaccine priming and BOOsting (PICOBOO)

The need for coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination in different age groups and populations is a subject of great uncertainty and an ongoing global debate. Critical knowledge gaps regarding COVID-19 vaccination include the duration of protection offered by different priming and booster vaccination regimens in different populations, including homologous or heterologous schedules.

Research

Tonsils at Telethon: developing a standardised collection of tonsil photographs for group A streptococcal (GAS) research

Group A streptococcus (GAS) infections, such as pharyngitis and impetigo, can lead to rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease (RHD). Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations experience high rates of RHD and GAS skin infection, yet rates of GAS pharyngitis are unclear. 

Research

Bringing optimised COVID-19 vaccine schedules to immunocompromised populations (BOOST-IC): study protocol for an adaptive randomised controlled clinical trial

Immunocompromised hosts experience more breakthrough infections and worse clinical outcomes following infection with COVID-19 than immunocompetent people. Prophylactic monoclonal antibody therapies can be challenging to access, and escape variants emerge rapidly. Immunity conferred through vaccination remains a central prevention strategy for COVID-19.

Research

Pertussis Disease and Antenatal Vaccine Effectiveness in Australian Children

Population-level studies of severe pertussis extending beyond infancy are sparse, and none in the context of antenatal vaccination. We compared hospitalized pertussis cases from birth to 15 years of age before and after introduction of antenatal immunization.

Research

Safety of live attenuated herpes zoster vaccine in adults 70–79 years: A self-controlled case series analysis using primary care data

No new safety concerns were identified for live attenuated herpes zoster vaccine in this study based on a novel, Australian primary care data source

Research

Whole-Cell Pertussis Vaccination and Decreased Risk of IgE-Mediated Food Allergy: A Nested Case-Control Study

Australian infants who received whole-cell pertussis vaccines were less likely to be diagnosed with food allergy in childhood

Research

Whole‐cell pertussis vaccine in early infancy for the prevention of allergy in children

Atopic diseases are the most common chronic conditions of childhood. The apparent rise in food anaphylaxis in young children over the past three decades is of particular concern, owing to the lack of proven prevention strategies other than the timely introduction of peanut and egg.