Glenda Lawrence

Australia's national Q fever vaccination program.

A nationally funded Q fever vaccination program was introduced in Australia in 2002. The evaluation of this unique program included measures of program uptake, safety, and notification and hospitalisation rates for Q fever pre- and post-program implementation. Program uptake ranged from close to 100% amongst abattoir workers to 43% in farmers. The most commonly reported adverse event was injection site reaction. Q fever notification rates declined by over 50% between 2002 and 2006, particularly in young adult males, consistent with the profile of the abattoir workforce. Hospitalisation data showed similar trends. Available evidence suggests a significant impact of Australias Q fever vaccination program; such a program merits consideration in other countries with a comparable Q fever disease burden.

Rapid, single-step differentiation of equid herpesviruses 1 and 4 from clinical material using the polymerase chain reaction and virus-specific primers

Sets of primers were designed which enabled specific amplification of homologous regions of the glycoprotein C and gene 76 genetic loci of equine herpesviruses 1 and 4 (EHV-1 and EHV-4). The resultant virus-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products arising from each loci could be discriminated easily on the basis of size on an agarose gel, allowing rapid differentiation of the two equine herpesviruses. Specificity of the amplifications were confirmed by Southern hybridization and restriction endonuclease digestion. The PCR test was applied to nasal swab samples from weanling foals and to archival aborted fetal tissue samples and the results compared to those obtained by virus isolation. A strong correlation was found between this PCR assay and virus isolation methods of EHV-1 and EHV-4 detection and discrimination.

The detection of latency-associated transcripts of equine herpesvirus 1 in ganglionic neurons

Neural tissues from specific pathogen-free ponies that had been experimentally infected with equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1) were analysed by in situ hybridization. Digoxigenin-labelled EHV-1 BamHI fragments spanning almost the entire EHV-1 genome were hybridized to RNA in tissue sections from latently infected trigeminal ganglia. The BamHI E fragment detected EHV-1 RNA antisense to gene 63 (HSV-1 homologue ICP0) in a small number of neurons. Sixteen other BamHI fragments gave negative results in 20 sections tested with each fragment. Latency associated transcripts (LATs) were localized to the neuronal nuclei. EHV-1 nucleotide sequence data in the region reveals the presence of a putative EHV-1 LAT promoter that shares a similar motifs with the HSV-1 LAT promoter, including the LAT promoter-binding factor, and may have a role in EHV-1 LAT expression.

The Centre for Health Record Linkage: A New Resource for Health Services Research and Evaluation:

The Centre for Health Record Linkage (CHeReL) was established in 2006 to support health and health services research in New South Wales (NSW) and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). It is the second dedicated health record linkage unit to be established in Australia. The CHeReL carries out record linkage using best practice privacy preserving procedures (Kelman, Bass & Holman 2002). All record linkage projects must have the approval of a Human Research Ethics Committee and the owners of the relevant databases. To facilitate access to linked health data, the CHeReL is creating a Master Linkage Key to link records for individuals across in a number of health-related datasets including hospital inpatient data, cancer registry data, and birth and death registration data.Introduction The Centre for Health Record Linkage (CHeReL) was established in 2006 to support health and health services research in New South Wales (NSW) and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). It is the second dedicated health record linkage unit to be established in Australia. The first, Data Linkage WA, located within the Western Australian Department of Health, was established in 1995 (Western Australia Data Linkage Branch 2008). The CHeReL is jointly funded by the NSW Department of Health, ACT Health, the Cancer Institute NSW, the Clinical Excellence Commission, the Sax Institute, the University of Newcastle, the University of New South Wales and the University of Sydney. The Cancer Institute NSW is the host organisation for the CHeReL. There are 17 staff at the CHeReL, including the Manager and Deputy Manager, two Data Managers and 13 Record Linkage Officers. The CHeReL Management Committee, which comprises representatives of each of the eight funding organisations, oversees the strategic directions, operational and business plans, and policies and procedures of the CHeReL. A Community Advisory Committee provides advice to the CHeReL Manager and the Management Committee on issues of interest to the community related to linkage of health records.

Immunisation coverage in Australia corrected for under-reporting to the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register

Objective: To assess the level of underreporting to the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register (ACIR) and the resulting underestimation of national immunisation coverage using ACIR data, and to correct national immunisation estimates for under‐reporting.

Epidemiological investigation of equid herpesvirus-4 (EHV-4) excretion assessed by nasal swabs taken from thoroughbred foals

Equid herpesvirus-4 (EHV-4) was detected in nasal swabs taken from foals using a PCR based test and this information used to study the epidemiology of EHV-4 disease on three Australian Thoroughbred stud farms in NSW in 1992. There was a very high level of agreement (kappa value of 0.84) between the PCR results and virus isolation using cell culture techniques. There was a strong seasonal distribution of EHV-4 shedding. Twenty-five of 26 positive samples were collected in January and March with the remaining positive sample collected in February. Foals with clinical signs of upper respiratory tract infection per se were no more likely to be shedders of EHV-4 (odds ratio [OR] 1.4, 95% confidence limits [CL] 0.5-3.8). However, EHV-4 was more likely to be isolated from foals exhibiting copious serous or mucopurulent nasal discharge than those with no clinical signs (OR 4.6, 95% CL 1.1-19.0 and OR 2.5, 95% CL 0.8-8.0, respectively). The month of the year was more important than weaning or age as a risk factor for excretion of EHV-4. Male foals and those with a history of respiratory disease that had required veterinary treatment were more likely to shed EHV-4.

Influenza vaccination during pregnancy: Coverage rates and influencing factors in two urban districts in Sydney

BACKGROUND Pregnant women have an increased risk of complications from influenza. Influenza vaccination during pregnancy is considered effective and safe; however estimates of vaccine coverage are low. This study aimed to determine influenza vaccination coverage and factors associated with vaccine uptake in pregnant women in two Sydney-based health districts. METHODS A random sample of women who delivered a baby in a public hospital in Sydney and South-Western Sydney Local Health Districts between June and September 2012 were surveyed using a computer assisted telephone interviewing service. RESULTS Of the 462 participants (participation rate 92%), 116 (25%) reported receiving the influenza vaccine during their pregnancy. In univariate analysis, vaccination coverage varied significantly depending on antenatal care type, hospital of birth, and parity (p<0.05), but not for age category, highest level of education, country of birth, language spoken at home, or Aboriginal status. Women who received antenatal care through a general practitioner (GP) had 2.3 (95% CI 1.4-3.6) times the odds (unadjusted) of receiving the influenza vaccination than those who received their antenatal care through a public hospital. The main reason cited for vaccination was GP recommendation (37%), while non-recommendation (33%) and lack of knowledge (26%) were cited as main reasons for not receiving the vaccination. 30% of women recalled receiving a provider recommendation for the vaccination and these women had 33.0 times the odds (unadjusted) of receiving the vaccination than women who had not received a recommendation. In a multivariate model a provider recommendation was the only variable that was significantly associated with vaccination (OR 41.9; 95% CI 20.7-84.9). CONCLUSION Rates of influenza vaccination during pregnancy are low. There is a significant relationship between healthcare provider recommendation for the vaccination and vaccine uptake. Increasing provider recommendation rates has the potential to increase coverage rates of influenza vaccination in pregnant women.

Immunization with glycoprotein C of equine herpesvirus-1 is associated with accelerated virus clearance in a murine model

SummaryThe glycoprotein C (gC) gene of equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) was expressed in insect cells by a recombinant baculovirus as several products with apparent molecular weights of 66 kDa–80 kDa. The baculovirus EHV-1 gC products were recognised by monoclonal antibody and by EHV-1 convalescent equine sera, indicating conservation of antigenic determinants and confirming this glycoprotein as a target for the equine immune system. Mice immunized with recombinant EHV-1 gC showed accelerated clearance of EHV-1 from respiratory tissues following intranasal challenge. Virus clearance was accompanied by virus specific antibodies and by cell mediated immune responses measured by a delayed type hypersensitivity reaction and lymphocyte stimulation by killed EHV-1 as antigen.

Expression and characterization of equine herpesvirus 1 glycoprotein D in mammalian cell lines

SummaryEquine herpesvirus 1 glycoprotein D (EHV-1 gD) expressed constitutively in mammalian cell lines had similar electrophoretic mobility to gD produced in EHV-1 infected cells but lacked a possibly complexed higher molecular weight form seen in the latter. Recombinant gD was N-terminally cleaved at the same site as gD in EHV-1 infected cells and expression was associated with enhanced levels of cell-cell fusion, indicating a role for EHV-1 gD in cell-to-cell transmission of virus.

Human herpesvirus 6 (strain U1102) encodes homologues of the conserved herpesvirus glycoprotein gM and the alphaherpesvirus origin-binding protein

The nucleotide sequence of 3,134 bp from the genome of human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) strain U1102 was determined. The sequence overlaps and is contiguous with the 21,858 bp nucleotide sequence published by us previously. The sequence reported here encodes two open reading frames, named 18L and 19R. The protein encoded by 18L shares amino acid sequence similarity with the multiply hydrophobic glycoprotein M conserved in the genomes of all herpesviruses sequenced to date. ORF 19R encodes a protein which shares a significant degree of amino acid sequence conservation with the origin-binding protein homologues encoded by members of the alphaherpesvirus subgroup, but does not share detectable amino acid sequence homology with positionally analogous open reading frames present in the genomes of other betaherpesviruses or in the genomes of gammaherpesviruses.