Paediatric respiratory syncytial virus healthcare associated infection surveillance pilot

Paediatric respiratory syncytial virus healthcare associated infection surveillance pilot

Gemma Saravanos^1,2, Claire Nayda³, Trish Maldigri³, Marilyn Cruickshank^3,4, Alison Kesson^2,3, Philip Britton^2,3, ,

¹Susan Wakil School of Nursing & Midwifery, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
²The Children’s Hospital at Westmead Clinical School, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
³Sydney Children’s Hospital Network, Sydney, NSW, Australia
⁴University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Introduction
RSV healthcare associated infections (RSV-HAI) are common in the paediatric setting and are associated with poor health outcomes and increased healthcare costs. Hospital-based surveillance can support the design and assessment of interventions to prevent RSV-HAI. For this study, we aim to identify children with RSV-HAI, describe the epidemiology and impact, and assess the feasibility of RSV-HAI surveillance.

Methods
Single centre, prospective surveillance of RSV-HAI defined as a child with a laboratory-confirmed RSV infection where the onset of RSV symptoms occurred greater than 72 hours following presentation to hospital. We will describe the demographic and clinical characteristics of children who experience RSV-HAI. We will report the epidemiology of RSV-HAI, including case counts and rates per occupied bed days. We will describe the process flow and feasibility of surveillance.

Results
We have obtained ethics approval for the study and will soon commence prospective surveillance. Preliminary data will be available for presentation in November.

Conclusions
To be determined.

Biography

Dr. Gemma Saravanos (she/her) is an early career researcher, educator and clinician based at the Susan Wakil School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Sydney. She holds a post-doctoral research fellow appointment at the University of Sydney Children’s Hospital Westmead Clinical School and contributes to multidisciplinary research in the Centre for Paediatric Infectious Diseases Research.
Her research seeks to understand the impact of severe acute respiratory infection in different groups and how this can be reduced. A focus has been to describe the epidemiology of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in the Australian population to inform future prevention strategies including vaccination.