Real-world utilisation of SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen testing to enable face-to-face learning in Australian schools, an ecological study.

Objective: The objective of this study was to describe the use of SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen testing of COVID-19 contacts in New South Wales schools to determine return to in-person school attendance instead of home quarantine, between 6 November and 21 December 2021.

Methods: COVID-19 school contacts were required to quarantine for two weeks postexposure to the case. Students who opted into daily rapid antigen testing logged their results in a database, prior to school attendance, and obtained SARS-CoV-2 nucleic amplification acid testing on day 12-16.

Toxicological analysis of serious drug-related harm among electronic dance music festival attendees in New South Wales, Australia: A consecutive case series.

Background: A substantial increase in drug-related harm was observed during the 2018-2019 music festival season in New South Wales, Australia, including the deaths of five young people. As part of a rapid public health response, the New South Wales Ministry of Health referred samples from patients with suspected severe drug-related illness for forensic toxicological testing to identify the type and concentration of substances associated with the presentations.

Methods: Cases were identified through a variety of active and passive surveillance systems, and selected consecutively based on indicators of clinical severity.

Probable epidemic Mycoplasma pneumoniae disease activity in metropolitan Sydney, 2015: combining surveillance data to cross-validate signal detection.

Mycoplasma pneumoniae is a leading cause of encephalitis and pneumonia in children. Active surveillance identified a cluster of children with suspected encephalitis associated with M.pneumoniae in NSW during July, 2015.