Suchergebnisse

The COVID-19 Vaccination Linked Data Repository (CVLDR) was established in 2021 to assist with the implementation and management of the COVID-19 vaccination program in the State of Western Australia (WA). The CVLDR contains a number of datasets including the Australian Immunisation Register, hospital admissions, emergency department attendances, notifiable infectious disease, and laboratory data. Datasets in the CVLDR are linked using a probabilistic method at the WA Department of Health. Quality assurance mechanisms have been established to identify and mitigate potential errors in the linkage. Each of the datasets has varying degrees of data quality and completeness, however most are of high standard, underpinned by legislation. The linking of the datasets within the CVLDR has allowed for increased public health utility in the immunisation program including the areas of vaccine safety, effectiveness, and coverage.

ABSTRACTObjectivesPregnant women are the highest priority for seasonal influenza vaccination. Previous research has found maternal immunisation may not only reduce respiratory infections in mothers and infants, but also prevents adverse birth outcomes. Although the vaccine has been offered to pregnant women under the National Immunisation Program since 2009, no population-based study has yet evaluated its impact on neonatal health in Australia.
ApproachWe established a large retrospective cohort of 58,615 births between 2012 and 2013 in Western Australia using data linkage of state-held maternal vaccination records, birth registrations, hospital inpatient records, and midwives notifications. Cox regression models were used to compare the adjusted relative hazard (HR) of adverse birth outcomes and hospital admission for an acute respiratory illness (ARI) by vaccination status.
ResultsIn total, 5,241 (8.9%) of infants were born to vaccinated mothers. Between 2012 and 2013, there were 23.6 ARI admissions per 1,000 infants <6 months and 2.8 ARI admissions per 1,000 pregnant women. Influenza vaccination was associated with a 51% reduction in stillbirth (aHR: 0.49; 95% CI: 0.29-0.84) and a 25% reduction in infant admissions in the first six months of life (aHR: 0.75; 95% CI: 0.56-0.99). Most of the reduction in ARI admission in infants was observed when vaccination occurred in the third trimester (aHR: 0.68; 95% CI: 0.47-0.95).
ConclusionsOur findings support the neonatal health benefits afforded by maternal influenza immunisation and underscore the importance of offering and promoting influenza vaccination to pregnant women. Considering more than 90% of women who choose to be immunised do so to protect their infant, these results could be used to powerfully promote maternal immunisation.

We investigated the duration of humoral responses to dengue virus infection in individuals who recalled experiencing dengue fever–like illnesses at the time of the Second World War, when dengue fever epidemics occurred throughout the Pacific and Southeast Asia. In July 1943 dengue fever reappeared in Hawaii following an interval of 31 years. Over the next 12 months a total of 1498 locally transmitted cases were reported, and at least 46 imported cases were identified, most of which were among members of the military returning from the Pacific Theatre of the war. Serum samples collected in 2005, more than 60 years after onset of symptoms, were tested for the presence of dengue-specific antibodies using a rapid ELISA test, and by plaque reduction neutralization test. Four of seven samples were positive for dengue-specific IgG and demonstrated neutralization titers ≥160 to dengue 1. We describe the existence of dengue-specific antibodies in the serum of people infected more than 60 years earlier.

INTRODUCTION: Pregnant women and infants are at risk of severe influenza and pertussis infection. Inactivated influenza vaccine (IIV) and diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis vaccine (dTpa) are recommended during pregnancy to protect both mothers and infants. In Australia, uptake is not routinely monitored but coverage appears sub-optimal. Evidence on the safety of combined antenatal IIV and dTpa is fragmented or deficient, and there remain knowledge gaps of population-level vaccine effectiveness. We aim to establish a large, population-based, multi-jurisdictional cohort of mother-infant pairs to measure the uptake, safety and effectiveness of antenatal IIV and dTpa vaccines in three Australian jurisdictions. This is a first step toward assessing the impact of antenatal vaccination programmes in Australia, which can then inform government policy with respect to future strategies in national vaccination programmes. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: 'Links2HealthierBubs' is an observational, population-based, retrospective cohort study established through probabilistic record linkage of administrative health data. The cohort includes births between 2012 and 2017 (~607 605 mother-infant pairs) in jurisdictions with population-level antenatal vaccination and health outcome data (Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory). Perinatal data will be the reference frame to identify the cohort. Jurisdictional vaccination registers will identify antenatal vaccination status and the gestational timing of vaccination. Information on maternal, fetal and child health outcomes will be obtained from hospitalisation and emergency department records, notifiable diseases databases, developmental anomalies databases, birth and mortality registers. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval was obtained from the Western Australian Department of Health, Curtin University, the Menzies School of Health Research, the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, and the West Australian Aboriginal Health Ethics Committees. Research findings ...