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Skin health is widely recognised as being important for overall good health and well-being, yet the burden of skin infections in remote Aboriginal communities remains high. This project aimed to explore if virtual support for skin health could be a strategy to reduce community barriers to skin health engagement. 

Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infection is traditionally treated with at least 2 weeks of intravenous antibiotics in adults, 3-7 days in children, and often longer for those with complicated disease. The current practice of treating S. aureus bacteremia with prolonged IV antibiotics (rather than oral antibiotics) is based on historical observational research and expert opinion. Prolonged IV antibiotic therapy has significant disadvantages for patients and healthcare systems, and there is growing interest in whether a switch to oral antibiotics following an initial period of IV therapy is a safe alternative for clinically stable patients.

Australia commenced administration of the Spikevax (Moderna mRNA-1273) COVID-19 vaccine in August 2021 and Nuvaxovid (Novavax NVX-CoV2373) in January 2022. This study describes the short-term safety profile of priming doses of the Spikevax and Nuvaxovid vaccines given between September 2021 and September 2023. 

To assess potential benefits and direct healthcare cost savings with expansion of an existing childhood influenza immunisation program, we developed a dynamic transmission model for the state of Western Australia, evaluating increasing coverage in children < 5 years and routinely immunising school-aged children.

The ability for vaccines to protect against infectious diseases varies among individuals, but computational models employed to inform policy typically do not account for this variation. Here we examine this issue: we implement a model of vaccine efficacy developed in the context of SARS-CoV-2 in order to evaluate the general implications of modelling correlates of protection on the individual level.

Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are recommended for capturing meaningful outcomes in clinical trials. The use of PROMs for children with acute lower respiratory infections (ALRIs) has not been systematically reported. We aimed to identify and characterise patient-reported outcomes and PROMs used in paediatric ALRI studies and summarise their measurement properties.

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a rare, inherited, life-limiting condition predominantly affecting the lungs, for which there is no cure. The disease is characterized by recurrent pulmonary exacerbations (PEx), which are thought to drive progressive lung damage. Management of these episodes is complex and generally involves multiple interventions targeting different aspects of disease. The emergence of innovative trials and use of Bayesian statistical methods has created renewed opportunities for studying heterogeneous populations in rare diseases.

While most Australian children are vaccinated, delays in vaccination can put them at risk from preventable infections. Widespread mobile phone ownership in Australia could allow automated short message service (SMS) reminders to be used as a low-cost strategy to effectively 'nudge' parents towards vaccinating their children on time.

Despite universal access to government-funded direct-acting antivirals in 2016, the rate of hepatitis C treatment uptake in Australia has declined substantially. Most hepatitis C is related to injecting drug use; reducing the hepatitis C burden among people who inject drugs is, therefore, paramount to reach hepatitis C elimination targets. 

Immunocompromised hosts experience more breakthrough infections and worse clinical outcomes following infection with COVID-19 than immunocompetent people. Prophylactic monoclonal antibody therapies can be challenging to access, and escape variants emerge rapidly. Immunity conferred through vaccination remains a central prevention strategy for COVID-19.