Genotypic diversity, circulation patterns and co-detections among rhinoviruses in Queensland, 2001.

Purpose: Rhinoviruses (RVs) occur more frequently than other viruses and more often in people displaying symptoms than in those without. We sought to estimate the spectrum of RV diversity, RV species seasonality and to analyse RV involvement in respiratory virus co-detections.

Methodology: A convenience collection of 1179 airway sample extracts from patients with suspected respiratory infections, collected during 2001, was subjected to comprehensive molecular testing.

Laboratory methods supporting measles surveillance in Queensland, Australia, 2010-2017.

Purpose: Australia was officially recognised as having eliminated endemic measles transmission in 2014. Maintaining laboratory support for surveillance of vaccine-preventable diseases, such as measles, is an essential component of reaching and maintaining transmission-free status.

Methodology: Real-time and conventional PCR-based tools were used to detect, differentiate from measles vaccine virus (MeVV), and sequence fragments of measles viruses (MeV) identified from specimens collected in Queensland.

Erratum: Pyke, A.T. et al. On the Home Front: Specialized Reference Testing for Dengue in the Australasian Region. 2018, , 75.

The authors wish to make the following correction to Table 1 of this paper [...

Malaria surveillance from both ends: concurrent detection of Plasmodium falciparum in saliva and excreta harvested from Anopheles mosquitoes.

Background: Malaria is the most important vector-borne disease in the world. Epidemiological and ecological studies of malaria traditionally utilize detection of Plasmodium sporozoites in whole mosquitoes or salivary glands by microscopy or serological or molecular assays. However, these methods are labor-intensive, and can over- or underestimate mosquito transmission potential.

Measles Vaccine Virus RNA in Children More Than 100 Days after Vaccination.

Measles vaccines have been in use since the 1960s with excellent safety and effectiveness profiles. Limited data are available on detection of measles vaccine virus (MeVV) RNA in human subjects following vaccination. Available evidence suggests MeVV RNA can be identified up to 14 days after vaccination, with detection beyond this rare.

On the Home Front: Specialised Reference Testing for Dengue in the Australasian Region.

Reference laboratories are vital for disease control and interpreting the complexities and impact of emerging pathogens. The role of these centralized facilities extends beyond routine screening capabilities to provide rapid, specific, and accurate diagnoses, advanced data analysis, consultation services, and sophisticated disease surveillance and monitoring. Within the Australasian region, the Public Health Virology Laboratory (PHV), Forensic and Scientific Services, Department of Health, Queensland Government, Australia, and the Institute of Environmental Science and Research Limited (ESR), New Zealand (NZ) perform specialised reference testing and surveillance for dengue viruses (DENVs) and other emerging arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses), including chikungunya virus (CHIKV) and Zika virus (ZIKV).

Bacteria and viruses in the nasopharynx immediately prior to onset of acute lower respiratory infections in Indigenous Australian children.

Acute lower respiratory infection (ALRI) is a major cause of hospitalization for Indigenous children in remote regions of Australia. The associated microbiology remains unclear. Our aim was to determine whether the microbes present in the nasopharynx before an ALRI were associated with its onset.

Detection of Specific ZIKV IgM in Travelers Using a Multiplexed Flavivirus Microsphere Immunoassay.

Zika virus (ZIKV) has spread widely in the Pacific and recently throughout the Americas. Unless detected by RT-PCR, confirming an acute ZIKV infection can be challenging. We developed and validated a multiplexed flavivirus immunoglobulin M (IgM) microsphere immunoassay (flaviMIA) which can differentiate ZIKV-specific IgM from that due to other flavivirus infections in humans.

HPeV-3 predominated among Parechovirus A positive infants during an outbreak in 2013-2014 in Queensland, Australia.

Background: Parechoviruses (HPeV) are endemic seasonal pathogens detected from the respiratory tract, gut, blood and central nervous system (CNS) of children and adults, sometimes in conjunction with a range of acute illnesses. HPeV CNS infection may lead to neurodevelopmental sequelae, especially following infection by HPeV-3, hence screening and genotyping are important to inform epidemiology, aetiology and prognosis.

Objectives: To identify and characterise HPeVs circulating during an outbreak between November 2013 and April 2014 in Queensland, Australia.

An Opportunistic Pathogen Afforded Ample Opportunities: Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus.

The human coronaviruses (CoV) include HCoV-229E, HCoV-OC43, HCoV-NL63, and HCoV-HKU1, some of which have been known for decades. The severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) CoV briefly emerged into the human population but was controlled. In 2012, another novel severely human pathogenic CoV-the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS)-CoV-was identified in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; 80% of over 2000 human cases have been recorded over five years.

Presence of atopy increases the risk of asthma relapse.

Objectives: To describe the point prevalence of respiratory viruses/atypical bacteria using PCR and evaluate the impact of respiratory viruses/atypical bacteria and atopy on acute severity and clinical recovery in children with hospitalised and non-hospitalised asthma exacerbations.

Design: This was a prospective study performed during 2009-2011.

Setting: The study was performed in the emergency departments of two hospitals.

Particle and bioaerosol characteristics in a paediatric intensive care unit.

The paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) provides care to critically ill neonates, infants and children. These patients are vulnerable and susceptible to the environment surrounding them, yet there is little information available on indoor air quality and factors affecting it within a PICU. To address this gap in knowledge we conducted continuous indoor and outdoor airborne particle concentration measurements over a two-week period at the Royal Children's Hospital PICU in Brisbane, Australia, and we also collected 82 bioaerosol samples to test for the presence of bacterial and viral pathogens.

Detection of Toscana virus from an adult traveler returning to Australia with encephalitis.

Toscana virus (TOSV) is identified in sandflies, animals, and humans around the Mediterranean Sea. TOSV has not been reported in Australia. During investigations of cerebrospinal fluid samples from patients with encephalitis, TOSV genetic sequences were identified in a traveler returning to Australia from Europe.

Mayaro virus: a forest virus primed for a trip to the city?

Mayaro virus (MAYV) is an emerging arthropod-borne virus (arbovirus). Infection by MAYV can produce Mayaro virus disease (MAYVD) which is usually a clinically diagnosed, acute, febrile illness associated with prolonged and painful joint inflammation and swelling. MAYVD may be clinically indistinguishable from dengue, chikungunya fever, malaria, rabies, measles or other arboviral diseases.

Assessment of Local Mosquito Species Incriminates Aedes aegypti as the Potential Vector of Zika Virus in Australia.

Background: Within the last 10 years Zika virus (ZIKV) has caused unprecedented epidemics of human disease in the nations and territories of the western Pacific and South America, and continues to escalate in both endemic and non-endemic regions. We evaluated the vector competence of Australian mosquitoes for ZIKV to assess their potential role in virus transmission.

Methodology/principal Findings: Mosquitoes were exposed to infectious blood meals containing the prototype African ZIKV strain.

Respiratory Viruses in Neonates: A Prospective, Community-based Birth Cohort Study.

A community-based birth cohort study collected weekly nasal swabs and recorded daily symptoms from 157 full-term infants. An average of 0.25 (95% confidence interval: 0.

Heterogeneous and Dynamic Prevalence of Asymptomatic Influenza Virus Infections.

Influenza infection manifests in a wide spectrum of severity, including symptomless pathogen carriers. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of 55 studies to elucidate the proportional representation of these asymptomatic infected persons. We observed extensive heterogeneity among these studies.

MERS coronavirus: diagnostics, epidemiology and transmission.

The first known cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), associated with infection by a novel coronavirus (CoV), occurred in 2012 in Jordan but were reported retrospectively. The case first to be publicly reported was from Jeddah, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Since then, MERS-CoV sequences have been found in a bat and in many dromedary camels (DC).

Three-weekly doses of azithromycin for indigenous infants hospitalized with bronchiolitis: a multicentre, randomized, placebo-controlled trial.

Background: Bronchiolitis is a major health burden in infants globally, particularly among Indigenous populations. It is unknown if 3 weeks of azithromycin improve clinical outcomes beyond the hospitalization period. In an international, double-blind randomized controlled trial, we determined if 3 weeks of azithromycin improved clinical outcomes in Indigenous infants hospitalized with bronchiolitis.

Middle East respiratory syndrome: An emerging coronavirus infection tracked by the crowd.

In 2012 in Jordan, infection by a novel coronavirus (CoV) caused the first known cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). MERS-CoV sequences have since been found in a bat and the virus appears to be enzootic among dromedary camels across the Arabian Peninsula and in parts of Africa. The majority of human cases have occurred in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).

Respiratory viruses in exacerbations of non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis in children.

Background: Respiratory viral infections precipitate exacerbations of chronic respiratory diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease though similar data in non-cystic fibrosis (CF) bronchiectasis are missing. Our study aimed to determine the point prevalence of viruses associated with exacerbations and evaluate clinical and investigational differences between virus-positive and -negative exacerbations in children with bronchiectasis.

Methods: A cohort of 69 children (median age 7 years) with non-CF bronchiectasis was prospectively followed for 900 child-months.

Adenovirus species C is associated with chronic suppurative lung diseases in children.

Background: The role of human adenoviruses (HAdVs) in chronic respiratory disease pathogenesis is recognized. However, no studies have performed molecular sequencing of HAdVs from the lower airways of children with chronic endobronchial suppuration. We thus examined the major HAdV genotypes/species, and relationships to bacterial coinfection, in children with protracted bacterial bronchitis (PBB) and mild bronchiectasis (BE).