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News & Events

In a WA first, researchers from The Kids Research Institute Australia have shown that Aboriginal babies are 22.5 times more likely to be treated for skin infections than non-Aboriginal babies.

News & Events

Dr Asha Bowen, Head of Skin Health at the Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases, has been awarded a 2018 Fellowship as part of the prestigious L’Oréal-UNESCO Women in Science program.

News & Events

One out of every 10 children with a bloodstream infection are infected with a multi-drug resistant organism in the nation’s first-ever surveillance study investigating the prevalence of paediatric antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

News & Events

Babies are most vulnerable to life-threatening diseases in their first few weeks of life, yet current vaccines can’t be given until two months of age.

Research

Understanding the geospatial distribution of influenza infection and the risk factors associated with infection clustering can inform targeted preventive interventions. We conducted a geospatial analysis to investigate the spatial patterns and identify drivers of medically attended influenza infection across all age groups in Western Australia.

Research

Receiving vaccines at or close to their due date (vaccination timeliness) is a now key measure of program performance. However, studies comprehensively examining predictors of delayed infant vaccination are lacking. We aimed to identify predictors of short and longer-term delays in diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) vaccination by dose number and ethnicity.

Research

In mid-2018, the Australian childhood 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine schedule changed from 3+0 to 2+1, moving the third dose to 12 months of age, to address increasing breakthrough cases of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD), predominantly in children aged >12 months. This study assessed the impact of this change using national IPD surveillance data.

Research

Maternal influenza and pertussis vaccination is an important strategy to reduce morbidity and mortality in infants. Previous vaccine safety studies have mostly focused on the association between maternal vaccination and fetal death.

Research

We assessed the impact of maternally derived pertussis antibodies on infant responses to a 2 + 1 vaccine schedule (6 weeks, 12 weeks, and 12 months). Infants with baseline antibodies showed lower IgG responses following the primary vaccination series, but this did not impair booster responses at 4 years of age.

Research

Small volume assays are required for large-scale research studies and in particular paediatric trials, where multiple measures are required from a single sample. Fluorescent bead-based technology (Bioplex/Luminex) allows high through-put and simultaneous quantification of multiple analytes in a single test. This technology uses sets of microspheres, each with a unique spectral address that can be coated with a different antigen of interest.