Invasive pneumococcal disease remains a major cause of hospitalization and death in Papua New Guinean (PNG) children. We assessed mucosal IgA and IgG responses in PNG infants vaccinated with pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) followed by a pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPV) booster. ...

• 1. Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Reports and Findings
• 2020
• October 2020

Prevalence of impetigo (skin sores) remains high in remote Australian Aboriginal communities, Fiji, and other areas of socio-economic disadvantage. Skin sore infections, driven primarily in these settings by Group A Streptococcus (GAS) contribute substantially to the disease burden in these areas. Despite this, estimates for the force of infection, infectious period and basic reproductive ratio-all necessary for the construction of dynamic transmission models-have not been obtained. ...

• 1. Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Reports and Findings
• 2020
• October 2020

As of 1 May 2020, there had been 6808 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Australia. Of these, 98 had died from the disease. The epidemic had been in decline since mid-March, with 308 cases confirmed nationally since 14 April. ...

• 1. Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Reports and Findings
• 2020
• August 2020

Immunity is distinct in early life and greater precision is required in our understanding of mechanisms of early life protection to inform development of new pediatric vaccines ...

• 1. Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Reports and Findings
• 2020
• April 2020

Baseline signatures might contribute to identifying interventional targets to be modulated prior to vaccination in order to improve vaccination responses ...

• 1. Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Reports and Findings
• 2020
• June 2020

Blood responses in very preterm infants with LOS are characterised by altered host immune responses that appear to reflect unbalanced immuno-metabolic homeostasis ...

• 1. Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Reports and Findings
• 2020
• June 2020

Benzathine penicillin G (BPG) is used as first-line treatment for most forms of syphilis and as secondary prophylaxis against rheumatic heart disease (RHD). Perceptions that poor quality of BPG is linked to reported adverse effects and therapeutic failure may impact syphilis and RHD control programs. Clinical networks and web-based advertising were used to obtain vials of BPG from a wide range of countries. ...

• 1. Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Reports and Findings
• 2020
• December 2020

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) caused by parasites of the Leishmania donovani complex can be fatal in susceptible individuals. Understanding the interactions between host and pathogen is one way to obtain leads to develop better drugs and for vaccine development. In recent years multiple omics-based approaches have assisted researchers to gain a more global picture of this interaction in leishmaniasis. Here we review results from studies using three omics-based approaches to study VL caused by L. donovani in India. ...

• 1. Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Reports and Findings
• 2020
• November 2020

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an acute respiratory illness caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). SARS-CoV-2 initially was identified from a cluster of patients admitted with ‘pneumonia of unknown etiology’ in late December 2019 to hospitals in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. ...

• 1. Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Reports and Findings
• 2021
• March 2021

In addition to providing pathogen-specific immunity, vaccines can also confer nonspecific effects (NSEs) on mortality and morbidity unrelated to the targeted disease. Immunisation with live vaccines, such as the BCG vaccine, has generally been associated with significantly reduced all-cause infant mortality. In contrast, some inactivated vaccines, such as the diphtheria, tetanus, whole-cell pertussis (DTPw) vaccine, have been controversially associated with increased all-cause mortality especially in female infants in high-mortality settings. ...

• 1. Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Reports and Findings
• 2021
• April 2021