Good News

Ross Andrews is now a member of the WHO technical expert working group on influenza pandemic special studies (IPSS). This is the expert group tasked with providing advice to the WHO on the studies that will need to be ready in the event of an influenza pandemic. The appointment has come about through his involvement with the APPRISE CRE, in particular for studies involving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people which also involves Emma Field as part of her joint appointment with Menzies School of Health Research. Ross is hoping that we will be able to build on the work of the APPRISE CRE and the MAE network to strengthen our role in pandemic influenza preparedness nationally, regionally and globally.

Conferences, Workshops and Seminars

Amy Parry has been accepted to present at the Global Health Security conference in June this year.

Martyn Kirk and Katie Glass attended a half-day workshop for a consultancy on Health Security in the Indo-Pacific region funded by DFAT. The consultancy is led by Melanie Bannister-Tyrrell from AusVet, with collaborators from ANU, Curtin, CSIRO, UQ, and the University of Otago.

Brett Libury presented his work “Rethinking Diagnostic Reference Intervals for ME/CFS via Machine Learning, and the Utility of Activin B to Assess Symptom Severity” at the 2019 ME/CFS International Research Symposium for Emerge Australia from the 12th to 15th March.

Engagement and Outreach

Brett Lidbury is working with colleagues in the Department of Health Evidence and the SYRCLE Research Centre, Radboud University Medical Centre (Nijmegen, Netherlands), from March to June. The sabbatical is supported by the Erasmus Mobility Scheme, awarded by the Dutch Government.

Publications

• Ingle D,… Kirk M et al. Emergence and divergence of major lineages of Shiga-toxin-producing Escherichia coli in Australia. Microbial Genomics 2019
• McLure A, Clements AC, Kirk M, Glass K. Modelling diverse sources of Clostridium difficile in the community: importance of animals, infants and asymptomatic carriers. Epidemiology & Infection. 2019;147.
• McLure A, Furuya-Kanamori L, Clements ACA, Kirk MD, Glass K.  Seasonality and community interventions in a mathematical model of Clostridium difficile. J. Hospital Infection (in press, accepted March 2019).
• World Health Organization. WHO consolidated guidelines on drug resistant tuberculosis treatment. Switzerland: The World Health Organization; 2019 (WHO guideline) Available at: https://www.who.int/tb/publications/2019/consolidated-guidelines-drug-resistant-TB-treatment/en/
  • Contribution mentioned on page 62: The writing of these guidelines was coordinated by Dennis FALZON (WHO/GTB) and Kerri VINEY (WHO rapporteur), under the guidance and supervision of Ernesto JARAMILLO and Karin WEYER (WHO/GTB), and the overall direction of Tereza KASAEVA, Director of WHO/GTB