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Multi-million-dollar investment in child health to support vital research

Four The Kids Research Institute Australia researchers have received prestigious fellowships and four significant cohort studies led or co-led by The Kids have received key grants under two new funding programs supported by the State Government’s Future Health Research and Innovation (FHRI) Fund.

Vaccination

Vaccination is the injection of an inactivated bacteria or virus into the body. This simulated infection allows an individual's immune system to develop an adaptive immunity for protection against that type of illness. When a sufficiently large percentage of a population has been vaccinated, this results in herd immunity.

Clinical outcomes and severity of laboratory-confirmed RSV compared with influenza, parainfluenza and human metapneumovirus in Australian children attending secondary care

Acute lower respiratory infections (ALRIs) are a major contributor to the global infectious disease burden and a common cause of hospitalisation for children under 2 years. We compared clinical severity in children hospitalised with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), parainfluenza virus (PIV), human metapneumovirus (hMPV) and influenza virus (IFV).

The Platform Trial In COVID-19 priming and BOOsting : The immunogenicity, reactogenicity, and safety of licensed COVID-19 vaccinations administered as a second booster in BNT162b2

PICOBOO is a randomised, adaptive trial evaluating the immunogenicity, reactogenicity, and safety of COVID-19 booster strategies. Here, we present data for second boosters among individuals aged 18-<50 and 50-<70 years old primed with BNT162b2 until Day (D) 84.

“You’re telling us to go first?!” COVID-19 pandemic and vaccination experiences among Aboriginal adults in Western Australia

Globally, Indigenous populations have been disproportionately impacted by pandemics. In Australia, though national infection rates with COVID-19 infections in Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people were lower in the first 12 months of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was soon a greater burden in Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Island people once Omicron was circulating. Uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine was also lower among Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people.

“We've wanted to vaccinate against it and now we can”: views of respiratory syncytial virus disease and immunisation held by caregivers of Aboriginal children in Perth, Western Australia

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a major cause of respiratory infection with a higher burden in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander infants and children. We conducted a pilot qualitative study identifying disease knowledge and willingness to immunise following the changing immunisation landscape for infant RSV in 2024.

Conversion or Reversion of Interferon γ Release Assays for Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Interferon γ release assays (IGRAs) are widely used for diagnosis of latent tuberculosis infection. However, with repeated testing, IGRA transformation (conversion or reversion) may be detected and is challenging to interpret. We reviewed the frequency of and risk factors for IGRA transformation.

Breadth of immune response, immunogenicity, reactogenicity, and safety for a pentavalent meningococcal ABCWY vaccine in healthy adolescents and young adults

A multicomponent meningococcal serogroups ABCWY vaccine (MenABCWY) could provide broad protection against disease-causing meningococcal strains and simplify the immunisation schedule. 

Biomarkers of vaccine safety and efficacy in vulnerable populations: Lessons from the fourth international precision vaccines conference

Vaccination has been a cornerstone of public health, substantially reducing the global burden of infectious diseases, notably evident during the COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2.

Improving the detection of congenital syphilis: reviewing test utility and adherence to recommendations

Western Australia (WA) has experienced a resurgence of congenital syphilis. Appropriate microbiology testing of the neonate is recommended to confirm infection, including syphilis immunoglobulin M (IgM), rapid plasma reagin (RPR) paired with a maternal sample, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) on placenta and nasal swabs.