Protracted Tuberculosis Outbreak in a Pasifika Diaspora in Western Sydney, Australia: The Importance of Community Engagement.

A prolonged tuberculosis outbreak, linked by whole-genome sequencing, occurred in a Pasifika extended family over 10 years (2013-2022) in Sydney, Australia. Despite Australia's low tuberculosis incidence, social and cultural complexities, and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) disruptions exacerbated transmission. Control required culturally sensitive, family-centered care and robust health system engagement.

The importance of microbiology reference laboratories and adequate funding for infectious disease surveillance.

Microbiology reference laboratories perform a crucial role within public health systems. This role was especially evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this Viewpoint, we emphasise the importance of microbiology reference laboratories and highlight the types of digital data and expertise they provide, which benefit national and international public health.

Deciphering epidemiology through culture-independent multiplex amplicon and metagenomic sequencing.

Unlabelled: Whooping cough (pertussis) has re-emerged despite high vaccine coverage in Australia and many other countries worldwide, partly attributable to genetic adaptation of the causative organism, to vaccines. Therefore, genomic surveillance has become essential to monitor circulating strains for these genetic changes. However, increasing uptake of PCR for the diagnosis of pertussis has affected the availability of cultured isolates for typing.