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Our team aims to optimise lung health early in life to ensure the best possible health outcomes later in life.
We present lung virome data recovered through shotgun metagenomics in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid from an infant with cystic fibrosis, who tested positive for Stenotrophomonas maltophilia infection. Using a bioinformatic pipeline for virus characterization in shotgun metagenomic data, we identified five viral contigs representing Pseudomonas phages classified as Caudoviricetes.
The burden of bronchiectasis is disproportionately high in Aboriginal adults, with early mortality. Bronchiectasis precursors, that is, protracted bacterial bronchitis and chronic suppurative lung disease, often commence in early childhood.
In children, chronic wet cough may be a sign of underlying lung disease, including protracted bacterial bronchitis (PBB) and bronchiectasis. Chronic (> 4 weeks in duration) wet cough (without indicators pointing to alternative causes) that responds to antibiotic treatment is diagnostic of PBB. Timely recognition and management of PBB can prevent disease progression to irreversible bronchiectasis with lifelong consequences. However, detection and management require timely health-seeking by carers and effective management by clinicians.
Survival statistics, estimated using data from national cystic fibrosis (CF) registries, inform the CF community and monitor disease progression. This study aimed to estimate survival among people with CF in Australia and to identify factors associated with survival.
Described antimicrobial resistance mechanisms enable bacteria to avoid the direct effects of antibiotics and can be monitored by in vitro susceptibility testing and genetic methods. Here we describe a mechanism of sulfamethoxazole resistance that requires a host metabolite for activity.
Diagnosis of chronic disease in a child can result in unresolved grief (UG) in parents. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of psychological insight-oriented therapy (IOT) as a treatment for UG compared to disease related education in parents of children with cystic fibrosis. Sequence of delivery, first IOT then disease related education (or vice versa) was also examined, to let all participants experience both interventions.
Lung abscess is a rare condition in paediatrics with a paucity of literature. Intravenous antibiotics is the main therapy; however interventional radiological approaches have led to the use of percutaneous drainage. Surgery is reserved for the management of complications.
The airway epithelium is the primary structural and functional airway barrier and orchestrates innate immunity. Some children may have underlying epithelial vulnerabilities that contribute to the pathogenesis of acute wheeze and asthma.
Culturally safe healthcare approaches are important to improve outcomes of Indigenous people. Non-Indigenous clinicians are often ill-prepared to provide such healthcare. The NHMRC Centre for Research Excellence (CRE) especially for First Nations Children has been studying for several years how to improve clinical care for Indigenous children with respiratory disease in hospital, clinic, urban, rural and remote settings.