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News & Events

New Aboriginal Cultural Guidance Advisor appointed

The Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases has appointed Mrs Valerie Swift to a newly created Aboriginal Cultural Guidance Advisor position.

News & Events

Round one done, eight to go for the SToP Trial

Six weeks, nine community visits and 380 kids – it’s a wrap for round one of the StoP Trial!

News & Events

Flu study gives vital early protection to bubs this winter

The FluBub Study will investigate whether giving the flu vaccine much earlier than the six months currently recommended by the National Immunisation Program will protect babies at the greatest risk of a severe influenza infection when they are most vulnerable.

News & Events

The Kids Research Institute Australia launches Covid-19 booster research to inform Australia’s vaccine policy

Optimising our national Covid-19 vaccine program could be one step closer thanks to new research now underway at The Kids Research Institute Australia investigating the most effective, long-term strategies for booster vaccinations.

Research

HipHop2SToP a community-led health promotion initiative empowering Aboriginal youth in the Kimberley region of Western Australia: a process evaluation

For millennia, Aboriginal people's ways of knowing, doing and being were shared through art, song, and dance. Colonisation silenced these ways, affecting loss of self-determination for Aboriginal people. Over the past decade in Australia, hip-hop projects have become culturally appropriate approaches for health promotion. 

Research

Impaired interferon response in plasmacytoid dendritic cells from children with persistent wheeze

Impaired interferon response and allergic sensitization may contribute to virus-induced wheeze and asthma development in young children. Plasmacytoid dendritic cells play a key role in antiviral immunity as critical producers of type I interferons. 

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

"Hurts less, lasts longer"; a qualitative study on experiences of young people receiving high-dose subcutaneous injections of benzathine penicillin G to prevent rheumatic heart disease in New Zealand

Four-weekly intramuscular benzathine penicillin G injections to prevent acute rheumatic fever progression have remained unchanged since 1955. A Phase-I trial in healthy volunteers demonstrated the safety and tolerability of high-dose subcutaneous infusions of BPG which resulted in a much longer effective penicillin exposure, and fewer injections. Here we describe the experiences of young people living with ARF participating in a Phase-II trial of SubCutaneous Injections of BPG.

Research

Nasal Delivery of Haemophilus haemolyticus Is Safe, Reduces Influenza Severity, and Prevents Development of Otitis Media in Mice

Despite vaccination, influenza and otitis media (OM) remain leading causes of illness. We previously found that the human respiratory commensal Haemophilus haemolyticus prevents bacterial infection in vitro and that the related murine commensal Muribacter muris delays OM development in mice. The observation that M muris pretreatment reduced lung influenza titer and inflammation suggests that these bacteria could be exploited for protection against influenza/OM.

Research

Antibiotics for the treatment of lower respiratory tract infections in children with neurodisability: Systematic review

Determine the optimal antibiotic choice for lower respiratory tract infection in children with neurodisability.