Equipping residential aged care facilities for acute respiratory illness: The Western Sydney experience of improving outbreak management.

Objectives: Acute respiratory illnesses have a disproportionate impact on older people, and especially those living in residential aged care facilities where transmission risks are heightened. Additionally, staff in these facilities have been working under challenging conditions, often ill-equipped in terms of both training and resources to successfully manage the outbreaks of these illnesses. This paper examines the actions of an Australian public health unit to improve influenza outbreak management in residential aged care facilities and critiques the outcomes through a contemporary lens.

Arousal and valence have dissociable effects on responses to schematic emotional faces.

Studies examining behavioural responses to emotional stimuli usually report one of two patterns of responses to negative stimuli. Some studies find faster responses to negative material. Other studies find slower responses to negative stimuli.

Immunogenicity, safety, usability and acceptability of microarray patches for vaccination: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Microarray patches (MAPs) deliver vaccines to the epidermis and the upper dermis, where abundant immune cells reside. There are several potential benefits to using MAPs, including reduced sharps risk, thermostability, no need for reconstitution, tolerability and self-administration. We aimed to explore and evaluate the immunogenicity, safety, usability and acceptability of MAPs for vaccination.

Vaccine microarray patch self-administration: An innovative approach to improve pandemic and routine vaccination rates.

The high-density microprojection array patch (HD-MAP) is a novel vaccine delivery system with potential for self-administered vaccination. HD-MAPs provide an alternative to needle and syringe (N&S) vaccination. Additional advantages could include reduced cold-chain requirements, reduced vaccine dose, reduced vaccine wastage, an alternative for needle phobic patients and elimination of needlestick injuries.

Epidemiological Differences in Hajj-Acquired Airborne Infections in Pilgrims Arriving from Low and Middle-Income versus High-Income Countries: A Systematised Review.

This systematised review aims to compare the epidemiological patterns of Hajj-acquired airborne infections among pilgrims from low and middle-income countries (LMIC) versus those from high-income countries (HIC). A PubMed search was carried out for all published articles before February 2023, using a combination of MeSH terms and text words. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) was used to assess data quality.

Perceived facilitators and barriers to the uptake of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine among adolescents of Arabic-speaking mothers in NSW, Australia: A qualitative study.

Background: Australia has a large immigrant population but there is little data regarding whether human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination coverage in adolescents varies according to parents' cultural or ethnic background. This work aims to identify facilitators and barriers to HPV vaccination of adolescents as perceived by Arabic-speaking mothers in Western Sydney, South Western Sydney and Wollongong, NSW, Australia.

Methods: A purposive sampling approach was applied to recruit mothers of adolescents from Arabic speaking backgrounds who had at least one child eligible for the HPV school-based vaccination program.

The effectiveness of vaccination for preventing hospitalisation with COVID-19 in regional Queensland: a data linkage study.

Objective: To estimate the effectiveness of vaccination against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) for protecting people in a largely coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-naïve regional population from hospitalisation with symptomatic COVID-19.

Design: Retrospective cohort study; analysis of positive SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test results linked with Central Queensland hospitals admissions data and Australian Immunisation Register data.

Setting, Participants: Adult residents of Central Queensland, 1 January - 31 March 2022.

The relationship between hand hygiene and rates of acute respiratory infections among Umrah pilgrims: A pilot randomised controlled trial.

Background: There is a lack of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) investigating the role of hand hygiene in preventing and containing acute respiratory infections (ARIs) in mass gatherings. In this pilot RCT, we assessed the feasibility of establishing a large-scale trial to explore the relationship between practising hand hygiene and rates of ARI in Umrah pilgrimage amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: A parallel RCT was conducted in hotels in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, between April and July 2021.

Active prospective national surveillance for congenital and neonatal varicella in Australia shows potential prevention opportunities.

To compare the incidence and outcomes of congenital and neonatal varicella in Australia in the pre-vaccination (1995-1997) and post-vaccination era (after 2005 to November 2020), active prospective national surveillance for congenital varicella syndrome (CVS) and neonatal varicella infection (NVI) was conducted through the Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit (APSU). Compared with 1995-1997, there was a 91.5% reduction in the incidence of CVS and a 91.

Dissociating affective and perceptual effects of schematic faces on attentional scope.

Attention allocation to positive and negative stimuli differs. For example, the flanker-interference asymmetry describes a pattern of results on flanker tasks using emotional stimuli, where a typical flanker-interference effect is observed for positive targets but not for negative targets. There are two dominant explanations for the flanker-interference asymmetry.

Health behaviors are largely not predictive of adverse events following influenza vaccination.

Background: Identifying health behaviors associated with adverse events following immunization (AEFI) could identify intervention targets for AEFI prevention.

Methods: University employees receiving an influenza vaccination (n = 1301) completed a series of online surveys for health behaviors including sleep, exercise, dietary intake, and smoking habits, and emotional state (baseline), and for indications of AEFI (three days post-vaccination) and influenza-like illness (ILI) symptoms (fortnightly follow-up for 4 months).

Results: 29.

Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit (APSU) Annual Surveillance Report 2021.

The Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit (APSU) has been conducting surveillance of rare communicable and non-communicable conditions in children since its inception in 1993. In this report, the results are described of surveillance of ten communicable diseases (and complications) for 2021, including the numbers of cases and incidence estimates; demographics; clinical features; and management and short-term outcomes. The included diseases are: acute flaccid paralysis (AFP); congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV); neonatal herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection; paediatric human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection; perinatal exposure to HIV; severe complications from influenza; juvenile-onset respiratory papillomatosis (JoRRP); congenital rubella syndrome; congenital varicella syndrome; and neonatal varicella infection.

Rapid on-site molecular Point of Care Testing during influenza outbreaks in aged care facilities improves antiviral use and reduces hospitalisation.

Objective: Western Sydney Local Health District (WSLHD) measured the utility and validity of rapid molecular point-of-care testing (POCT) in aged care facilities (ACFs) experiencing influenza-like illness (ILI) outbreaks against routine laboratory testing.

Methods: A descriptive epidemiological study into 82 respiratory outbreaks reported across 63 ACFs within WSLHD supporting approximately 6,500 residents aged ≥65 years and staffed by ∼6,500 employees, from 1 August 2018 to 31 December 2019.

Results: WSLHD Public Health Unit performed on-site testing at 27 ACF outbreaks (34%), while 53(66%) ACFs conducted only routine laboratory testing.

Low Prevalence of Syndromic Respiratory Tract Infections among Returning Hajj Pilgrims Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Post-Hajj Survey.

This study estimates the point prevalence of symptomatic respiratory tract infections (RTIs) among returned Hajj pilgrims and their contacts in 2021. Using the computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) technique, domestic pilgrims were invited to participate in this cross-sectional survey two weeks after their home return from Hajj. Of 600 pilgrims approached, 79.

Outbreaks of Human Metapneumovirus in Western Sydney Aged-Care Facilities in 2018.

Background: Human metapneumovirus (hMPV), first described in 2001, is a cause of acute respiratory tract infection in the elderly, with symptoms ranging from mild to severe, including pneumonia, but outbreaks are rarely described.

Methods: Between 1 July and 31 December 2018, there were three outbreaks of Influenza-like Illness (ILI) where hMPV was the primary pathogen observed, among 64 aged-care facilities (ACFs) in Western Sydney. These outbreaks were investigated by the Western Sydney Local Health District (WSLHD) Public Health Unit (PHU); multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing was performed on nasopharyngeal swabs collected by the ACF.

The role of chronic disease in the disparity of influenza incidence and severity between indigenous and non-indigenous Australian peoples during the 2009 influenza pandemic.

Background: The 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic (influenza A(H1N1)pdm09) disproportionately impacted Indigenous peoples. Indigenous Australians are also affected by a health gap in chronic disease prevalence. We hypothesised that the disparity in influenza incidence and severity was accounted for by higher chronic disease prevalence.

Syndromic surveillance of respiratory-tract infections and hand hygiene practice among pilgrims attended Hajj in 2021: a cohort study.

Background: The risk of transmission of viral respiratory tract infections (RTIs) is high in mass gatherings including Hajj. This cohort study estimated the incidence of symptomatic RTIs and hand hygiene compliance with its impact among Hajj pilgrims during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: During the week of Hajj rituals in 2021, domestic pilgrims were recruited by phone and asked to complete a baseline questionnaire.

Physical activity and acute exercise benefit influenza vaccination response: A systematic review with individual participant data meta-analysis.

Whether the vaccine adjuvant potential of acute exercise is uniform among different populations, e.g., inactive persons, is unknown.