Blood-clotting complications are rapidly emerging as a significant part of the pathogenesis of COVID-19. There are reports of otherwise well people with COVID-10 having strokes, pulmonary emboli and heart attacks, and children with inflammation of their blood vessels. In recent weeks series of cases of a multi-system inflammatory condition, some resembling Kawasaki disease, have been reported in children in Europe, UK and USA.
COVID-19 is almost always a mild disease in children. Adults are much more likely to become very unwell or die than children. Why is this so?
Data from around the world consistently shows that COVID-19 is essentially a mild disease in children. However, the indirect effects of COVID-19 may have a more profound effect than the direct effects of the infection.
We will hear from 3 speakers on the global and clinical aspects, and the broader social, education and wellbeing impact of COVID-19 on children.
Pneumonia is the commonest cause of childhood death throughout the world, especially in low and middle income countries. The pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) has been available for 19 years, but there are still many outstanding issues in its use: how do we measure the impact of this vaccine when the causes of pneumonia are many; how do we monitor serotype replacement in the post-PCV era; how do we measure herd protection; and how many doses of the vaccine are really needed for optimal protection?
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a leading cause of severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) in children in countries throughout the world. The Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) emergency department, wards and intensive care unit are full of patients with RSV infections (including bronchiolitis) from April to September, with a peak in June-July. The Melbourne Children’s campus has a long history of RSV associated research, including clinical trials encompassing preventative, supportive and therapeutic strategies.
This Grand Round will provide an overview of the current status on the use of antimicrobials in Australia, using a One Health perspective. Professor Thursky will describe the challenges facing prescribers and health care organisations in ensuring the judicious use of antimicrobials, and will showcase some of the research underway by the National Centre for Antimicrobial Stewardship.
“The opposite of love is not hate, but indifference” (Elie Wiesel). Neglected tropical diseases (“NTDs”) are a group of diverse infectious diseases that afflict the poorest of the poor, and efforts to curb their effects have been hampered by indifference. The NTDs are frequently chronic and debilitating diseases, and contribute to an ongoing cycle of poverty through their negative effects on human health, their economic impact on families and through stigmatisation
Providing care for children with chronic and complex conditions is challenging. The clinical decision making is complicated and providing best care often means trying to join up services that have no natural connections in the current system, both within and outside RCH. We know our best attempts currently fall short of the needs of children … Continued
This phenomenon has highlighted critical uncertainties regarding the determinants of pertussis infection and mechanisms of vaccine protection. We have developed models of pertussis to shed insight on key drivers of observed epidemiologic trends, informing national and international immunisation policy
Conjugate vaccines targeting Streptococcus pneumoniae were introduced into the Australian National Immunisation Program for infants in 2005.
