Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit (APSU) Annual Surveillance Report 2019

Suzy M Teutsch; Carlos A Nunez; Anne Morris; Skye McGregor; Jonathan King; Julia Ml Brotherton; Daniel Novakovic; Robert Booy; Cheryl A Jones; William Rawlinson; Bruce R Thorley; Elizabeth J Elliott

doi:10.33321/cdi.2020.44.60

Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit (APSU) Annual Surveillance Report 2019

Commun Dis Intell (2018). 2020 Aug 17:44. doi: 10.33321/cdi.2020.44.60.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Research Fellow, The Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit; The University of Sydney, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Discipline of Child and Adolescent Health; and The Sydney Children's Hospitals Network, Westmead, Sydney, New South Wales.
² Research Associate, The Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit and The University of Sydney, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Discipline of Child and Adolescent Health and The Sydney Children's Hospitals Network, Westmead, Sydney, New South Wales.
³ Senior Research Fellow, The Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit; and Paediatrician and Senior Lecturer, The University of Sydney, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Discipline of Child and Adolescent Health and The Sydney Children's Hospitals Network, Westmead, Sydney, New South Wales.
⁴ Epidemiologist, The Kirby Institute, UNSW Australia, Sydney, New South Wales.
⁵ Medical Director, VCS Population Health, VCS Foundation; and Honorary Principal Fellow, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Victoria.
⁶ ENT, Head and Neck Surgeon, Laryngologist, and Director, Dr Liang Voice Program, The University of Sydney, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Central Clinical School, Sydney, New South Wales.
⁷ Senior Professorial Fellow, National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance, Sydney, New South Wales.
⁸ Dean and Head of Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Sydney, New South Wales.
⁹ Senior Medical Virologist, Director of Serology, Virology and OTDS Laboratories, NSW Health Pathology Randwick, Sydney, New South Wales.
¹⁰ Head, National Enterovirus Reference Laboratory and WHO Polio Regional Reference Laboratory, Victorian Infectious Disease Reference Laboratory, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Melbourne, Victoria.
¹¹ Professor of Paediatrics and Child Health and Director of The Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit, The University of Sydney, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Discipline of Child and Adolescent Health and The Sydney Children's Hospitals Network, Westmead, Sydney, New South Wales.

PMID: 32829700
DOI: 10.33321/cdi.2020.44.60

Abstract

The Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit (APSU) has been prospectively collecting national data on rare childhood conditions since 1993, with monthly reporting of cases by paediatricians. In this report we describe annual results from studies for ten communicable diseases and complications of communicable diseases that were conducted using APSU surveillance in 2019 and place these in an historic context. Results are reported on acute flaccid paralysis, congenital cytomegalovirus infection, neonatal herpes simplex virus infection, perinatal exposure to HIV, paediatric HIV infection, severe complications of seasonal influenza, juvenile onset recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (JoRRP), congenital rubella syndrome, congenital varicella syndrome and neonatal varicella infection. APSU provides rich clinical data to complement data collected from other surveillance systems and to improve understanding and response to rare childhood infections.

Keywords: Australia; child; communicable diseases; public health surveillance; rare diseases.

Publication types

Historical Article

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Australia / epidemiology
Chickenpox / epidemiology
Child
Child, Preschool
Communicable Diseases / epidemiology*
Communicable Diseases / history
Congenital Abnormalities / epidemiology
Cytomegalovirus Infections / epidemiology
Female
HIV Infections / epidemiology
Herpes Simplex / epidemiology
History, 21st Century
Humans
Incidence
Infant
Infant, Newborn
Papillomavirus Infections / epidemiology
Pregnancy
Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / epidemiology
Public Health Surveillance*
Rare Diseases / epidemiology
Respiratory Tract Infections / epidemiology
Rubella Syndrome, Congenital / epidemiology

Supplementary concepts

Neonatal herpes
Recurrent respiratory papillomatosis