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Vancomycin is first-line treatment for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections. However, despite guideline recommendations, there is no evidence that targeting vancomycin trough concentrations of ≥15 mg/L in children confers clinical benefit and is associated with vancomycin-associated nephrotoxicity. 

Vancomycin is used to treat serious gram-positive infections in children; however, effective dosing information for those aged 3 months to 18 years is limited. We aimed to determine an optimized dosing strategy for this age group.

To determine the incidence, serotype distribution and clinical outcomes of invasive pneumococcal disease in children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia following widespread use of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a leading cause of severe respiratory infections in children and is predominantly acquired and spread in community settings such as households and early childhood education centres. This review aims to synthesise the available evidence on RSV transmission in closed community settings that include children, with a focus on secondary attack rates.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a significant cause of respiratory infections in young children. Since 2021, RSV has been a notifiable disease in Australia. However, current surveillance systems focus on hospitalised RSV, with limited surveillance at a community level through primary care clinics. This approach only captures RSV requiring hospitalisation. Less severe illnesses, while not captured, may have significant social and economic impacts including the associated cost of care and absenteeism. The aim of this study is to establish an understanding of the broader burden of RSV in young children in a community setting.

This study described the presenting features, initial assessment, hospital care, and complications at discharge among Australian adolescents and young adults with Invasive meningococcal disease.

As we finalised our analysis of the adoption of mandatory policies for childhood vaccines in four high-income jurisdictions for our publication, “Convergence on Coercion,” every country on earth was grappling with how to drive uptake of COVID-19 vaccines. 

In Australia, two-thirds of emergency medical service attended out-of-hospital cardiac arrests are unwitnessed, and survival is <5% in this group. With the recent incorporation of pulselessness-detection technologies into consumer wearable devices such as smartwatches, the potential exists to convert unwitnessed arrests into device-witnessed cases.

The estimated effectiveness of SMS (short message service) reminders for improving childhood vaccine coverage and timeliness has varied in previous studies. The observed heterogeneity in effectiveness may be explained in part by variation in reminder content or timing of the reminder relative to the vaccine schedule date. We sought to evaluate the effectiveness of a range of SMS reminders of varied content and timing for improving on-time childhood vaccination.

Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia (SAB) is the most common cause of childhood sepsis contributing to pediatric intensive care unit admission. The cost of adult SAB hospitalization is well described globally, but limited costing information is available for children. To bridge this knowledge gap, we investigated the cost of hospitalization in children with SAB in Australia.