Thu Apr 5, 2012
EMBARGO LIFTED at 7am AEST Fri 6 Apr 2012 US researchers have used mathematical models to show how worries over vaccine risks affect vaccine uptake within the community. The study shows how to predict ways in which population vaccinating behaviour might unfold during a vaccine scare, testing the model against real data from two infamous [...]
Wed Mar 28, 2012
EMBARGO LIFTED AT 8 am AEDT, Thursday March 29, 2012 Two studies to publish in PLoS One suggest that a sudden increase in narcolepsy in Finnish children at the beginning of 2010 was likely to be related to the Pandemrix vaccine used in response to the H1N1 (swine flu) pandemic in 2009. As mentioned below [...]
Fri Jun 17, 2011
Embargoed lifted at 9am AEST, Friday June 17 An Australian study of Victorian data is the first to show a reduction of high-grade cervical abnormalities (HGAs – the precursors to cervical cancer) in a population of women following introduction of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programs. However, the authors say more work is needed to confirm [...]
Tue Nov 23, 2010
ONLINE BACKGROUND BRIEFING – Wed 24 November 11.30am AEDT online The most recent statistics show the rates of chlamydia, a sexually transmitted infection, have tripled during the past decade and it’s the 15 to 24-year-olds at the highest risk. This year alone Queensland is experiencing the highest number of notified chlamydia cases in Australia with [...]
Tue Nov 9, 2010
Australia’s free human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine program for young women has decreased the diagnosis of genital warts by 59 per cent in that age group. A University of New South Wales study has found that men may have also benefitted from this positive spin-off, with a decrease in genital wart diagnosis by 28 per cent [...]
Fri Sep 17, 2010
Reports of the death of a five-week-old baby in Adelaide have once again raised awareness of the dangers associated with whooping cough outbreaks. Below an Australian expert comments on the status of the current outbreak and the research which is in progress to try to reduce the impact of whooping cough in the future.
Mon Aug 16, 2010
Prof Robert Booy, a Paediatrician and infectious diseases expert at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead, University of Sydney, responds to reports that the swine flu pandemic is over and that the threat was overplayed.
Fri Jul 30, 2010
Australia’s Chief Medical Officer announced today that the seasonal flu vaccination could recommence for children under five years of age.