Impact of Rotavirus Vaccines on Gastroenteritis Hospitalizations in Western Australia: A Time-series Analysis.

Background: Rotavirus vaccination was introduced into the Australian National Immunisation Program in mid-2007. We aimed to assess the impact of the rotavirus vaccination program on the burden of hospitalizations associated with all-cause acute gastroenteritis (including rotavirus gastroenteritis and non-rotavirus gastroenteritis) in the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal population in Western Australia.

Methods: We identified all hospital records, between July 2004 and June 2012, with a discharge diagnosis code for all-cause gastroenteritis.

Effectiveness of rotavirus vaccines in an Australian population: A case-control study.

Objective: Two rotavirus vaccines (RV1 and RV5) were included in the publicly funded National Immunisation Program in Australia from July 2007. The programme in Western Australia initially provided RV1 (at ages 2 and 4 months) and then switched to RV5 (at ages 2, 4 and 6 months) from July 2009. This retrospective case-control study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of rotavirus vaccine against laboratory confirmed and notified cases of rotavirus infection among children aged <5 years.

An audit of the reliability of influenza vaccination and medical information extracted from eHealth records in general practice.

To evaluate the reliability of information in general practice (GP) electronic health records (EHRs), 2100 adult patients were randomly selected for interview regarding the presence of specific medical conditions and recent influenza vaccination. Agreement between self-report and data extracted from EHRs was compared using Cohen's kappa coefficient (k) and interpreted in accordance with Altman's Kappa Benchmarking criteria; 377 (18%) patients declined participation, and 608 (29%) could not be contacted. Of 1115 (53%) remaining, 856 (77%) were active patients (≥3 visits to the GP practice in the last two years) who provided complete information for analysis.

Pretravel Health Advice Among Australians Returning From Bali, Indonesia: A Randomized Controlled Trial Protocol.

Background: The effect of pretravel health advice (PTHA) on travel-related illness rates is poorly understood, and to date there are no published randomized controlled trials evaluating the impact of PTHA outcomes.

Objective: This study aims to determine the effect of an online PTHA intervention on travel-related illness rates in Western Australians visiting Bali, Indonesia.

Methods: Western Australian travelers to Bali will be recruited online before departure and will be randomly allocated to an intervention or control group by computer algorithm.

Health Seeking Behaviours and Knowledge of Infectious Disease Risks in Western Australian Travellers to Southeast Asian Destinations: An Airport Survey.

As the number of Australians engaging in short-term international travel increases, so does the opportunity for importing overseas-acquired infectious diseases. This study aimed to determine knowledge of infectious disease risks and pre-travel health advice (PTHA) seeking behaviour among Western Australians travelling to Bali, Indonesia or Thailand. Passengers departing from Perth International Airport were invited to participate in a self-administered survey.