Infectious Diseases Epidemiology

Our group has a particular interest in severe acute lower respiratory infections, commonly known as chest infections, which include bronchiolitis, pneumonia, influenza and whooping cough. These chest infections are a major cause of childhood morbidity and have higher rates of occurrence in Aboriginal children and children from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

Our program of work centres around three key themes:

• Burden of Disease – understanding pathogen-specific, temporal and seasonal trends in disease and perinatal risk factors to disease
• Prevention and Policy – evaluating current prevention policy, such as vaccination policy at local and population levels, incorporating assessment of vaccine coverage, cost effectiveness and overall program performance in reducing the incidence of disease
• Diagnosis and Treatment - developing ways to improve the diagnostic capabilities of severe respiratory infections in children through prospective cohort studies.

Our team employs an array of methodologies including large-scale population-based data linkage using administrative health and other datasets; statistical and mathematical modelling techniques; prospective cohort studies; clinical trials; social research.

Team Highlights

• Leading numerous national paediatric influenza projects demonstrating the burden of disease and effectiveness of influenza vaccination for preschool children. In 2019, these data were used by Sanofi Pasteur and the Commonwealth Government to inform future preschool programs, and also played a vital role in the decision to include influenza vaccination for young children on the national immunisation program in 2020.

• Leading a Commonwealth Department of Health commissioned project to assess influenza burden and then model the impact of various seasonal influenza vaccination strategies. The team were invited to present the findings to the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation, setting future directions for influenza control and informing the decision to provide free influenza vaccines to primary school children in WA.

• Launching the FluBub Study, aiming to provide babies with access to life-saving influenza vaccinations from just eight weeks of age.

• Completing a number of key projects assessing vaccine timeliness and coverage. These data have been used to highlight the importance of on-time vaccinations and directly inform future programs to improve vaccine use. The results were also used in a national Department of Health media campaign.

• Using feedback from both consumer and health-care workers to co-design the the Pragmatic Adaptive Trial for Respiratory Infections in Children (PATRIC) registry and clinical trial - a game changer in the field of embedded research. The PATRIC Registry was launched at Perth Children’s Hospital in February 2020.

• Working alongside national collaborators to lead prospective surveillance for COVID-19 infections in children, collecting biological samples and partnering with scientists globally to understand the impact and outcomes of COVID-19.

• Embarking on a new study designed to prepare parents and government for a potential Australia-wide COVID-19 vaccination program. The Coronavax project will play a vital role in building community confidence and planning effective methods of delivery ahead of a vaccine roll out of a coronavirus vaccine.