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Herpes simplex virus in infancy: Evaluation of national surveillance case captureAs herpes simplex virus in infancy is not a mandatory notifiable condition in Australia, completeness of ascertainment by the Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit (APSU) has been difficult to evaluate to date. We evaluated case capture in Queensland and Western Australia using statewide laboratory and clinical data and complementary surveillance data collected via the APSU.
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The Challenge of Diagnosing Invasive Pulmonary Aspergillosis in Children: A Review of Existing and Emerging ToolsInvasive pulmonary aspergillosis remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality for immunocompromised children, particularly for patients with acute leukaemia and those undergoing haematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Timely diagnosis, using a combination of computed tomography (CT) imaging and microbiological testing, is key to improve prognosis, yet there are inherent challenges in this process. For CT imaging, changes in children are generally less specific than those reported in adults and recent data are limited.
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Enhancing Protection against Influenza and COVID-19 for pregnant women and medically at risk children: EPIC StudyPregnant women are 3 times more likely to die from COVID-19 and over 7 times more likely to be admitted to an intensive care unit with influenza compared to non-pregnant women.

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Flu jab for school kids best defence from virus, experts sayUp to 40,000 influenza cases could be prevented in Western Australia this winter if more primary school-aged children were vaccinated, researchers at The Kids Research Institute Australia have found.
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Respiratory Viral Testing Rate Patterns in Young Children Attending Tertiary Care Across Western Australia: A Population-Based Birth Cohort StudyBelaynew Christopher Peter Hannah Minda Huong Taye Blyth Richmond Moore Sarna Le MD, MPH, PhD MBBS (Hons) DCH FRACP FRCPA PhD MBBS MRCP(UK) FRACP OAM
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Characterization of Gram-negative Bloodstream Infections in Hospitalized Australian Children and Their Clinical OutcomesGram-negative bloodstream infections (GNBSIs) more commonly occur in children with comorbidities and are increasingly associated with antimicrobial resistance. There are few large studies of GNBSIs in children that relate the clinical presentation, pathogen characteristics, and outcomes.
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Widening the lens for pandemic preparedness: children must be seen and heardThe Australian and New Zealand Paediatric Infectious Diseases (ANZPID) Group of the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases (ASID) calls for urgent consideration of the needs and voices of children in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and in planning for future pandemics.
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Study of Children Aged Under 2 Years Admitted With RSV at Four Australian Hospitals [2021–2022]Primary aim was to review severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) hospitalisations caused by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in children aged < 2 years in paediatric hospitals in Australia. Secondary aims included RSV subtyping, assessing RSV seasonality and contributing to the World Health Organisation's RSV surveillance programme.
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Effectiveness of 2023 southern hemisphere influenza vaccines against severe influenza-associated illness: pooled estimates from eight countries using the test-negative designAnnual estimates of seasonal influenza vaccine effectiveness can guide global risk communication and vaccination strategies to mitigate influenza-associated illness. We aimed to evaluate vaccine effectiveness in countries using the 2023 southern hemisphere influenza vaccine formulation.
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Australian Group on Antimicrobial Research surveillance outcome programs - bloodstream infections and antimicrobial resistance patterns from patients less than 18 years of ageFrom 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2021, thirty-eight institutions across Australia submitted data to the Australian Group on Antimicrobial Resistance (AGAR) from patients aged < 18 years (AGAR-Kids). Over the two years, 1,679 isolates were reported from 1,611 patients. This AGAR-Kids report aims to describe the population of children and adolescents with bacteraemia reported to AGAR and the proportion of resistant isolates.