Category Archives: Public health
Immunisation schedules and SAQ
It’s useful to know your schedules and appreciate something of the rationale for the dosing recommendations. Also be aware of key vaccines that are yet to be introduced – e.g. rotavirus, HPV. Please work through the SAQ below. Correct 2016 … Continue reading
STIs in the Pacific and elsewhere: some essential research papers to review
Most of these have free text available via the PUBMED link and come from projects lead by PNGIMR and the Kirby Institute. Remember as well to use the WHO STI Laboratory Manual as your microbiological study reference for these diseases … Continue reading
Invasive pneumococcal disease – the impetus for immunisation
Invasive Pneumococcal Disease Surveillance (Australia) – recent report gives you a good idea of which serotypes of pneumococcus are within the different vaccines and the recent changes to serotype-specific IPD indidence – we are seeing quite an impact that is … Continue reading
Microbial Genomics for Public Health and Clinical Microbiology- Nov 2016 symposium report
This recent symposium was a great wrap up of whole genome sequencing at its many applications organised by the Doherty Institute in Melbourne. Here is my (short) Doherty-symposium report which will give you some idea of where things are going- a rapidly developing … Continue reading
BCG vaccine – more than just protection from childhood tuberculosis
This is a useful BCG systematic review concerning childhood protection against TB- worth reading in detail. Longterm BCG protection into adulthood – vaccine efficacy (VE) 10-19 years post BCG was 58% (95% CI 27 to 76) p=0·002 and there was still a non-significant … Continue reading
Epidemiology – don’t be lost for words!
As part of your systematic review of a micro-organism species or group of species (e.g. Enterobacteriaceae) , knowledge about the ‘epidemiology‘ is essential, the second element in the ORGANISM knowledge proforma. “Epidemiology is the study of the distribution and determinants of health-related … Continue reading
Microbiology and Infectious Diseases postgraduate teaching (PRIDA) 