Rotavirus hospitalisations are more prevalent in the Northern Territory (NT) than anywhere else in Australia.

Menzies have a major focus on immunisation and vaccine-preventable diseases and are investigating ways to improve management of common diseases that affect Indigenous children, such as the rotavirus vaccine. This vaccination became routine for NT infants in October 2006.

Our research focus:

• To investigate the effectiveness of the rotavirus and other vaccines in the NT.

Our research impact:

• A Menzies study called ‘PneuMum’ established that vaccination of mothers has led to increased antibody transfer to their babies. This is a step towards establishing whether mothers can transfer antibody protection to their babies through breast milk - ultimately preventing ear disease.

Key staff:

• Jane Nelson
• Paula Binks

• ORVAC – Optimising Rotavirus Vaccine in Aboriginal Children 
• The pneumococcal immunisation protection and awareness project (PIPPA)
• PneuMum: a randomised controlled trial of pneumococcal polysaccharide immunisation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers to protect their babies from ear disease
• TROVE - a case control study of rotavirus vaccine effectiveness against gastroenteritis hospitalisation of children in the Northern Territory (NT).
• Delayed versus early pneumococcal conjugate vaccination in malnourished children in TImor-Leste

1. Skull, S., Licciardi, P., Balloch, A., Leach, A., Moberley, S., Carapetis, J., et al. (2010). Immune hyporesponsiveness following repeat pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (23vPPV) in Indigenous Australian adults and adolescents. 12th National Immunisation Conference. Adelaide, 2010 (conference abstract).
2. Licciardi, P.V., Balloch, A., Moberley, S., McKinnon, M., Mulholland, E.K., Andrews, R., et al. (2010). Indigenous Australians have impaired immune responses following repeated immunization with the pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (23vPPV). 7th International Symposium on Pneumococci and Pneumococcal Diseases (ISPPD 7).  Tel Aviv, Israel (oral abstract).
3. Johnston, V., Thomas, D.P., McDonnell, J., & Andrews, R.M. (2011). Maternal smoking in the household during pregnancy and postpartum: findings from an Indigenous cohort in the Northern Territory. The Medical Journal of Australia, 194(10), 556-559.
4. Dunbar, M., Moberley, S., Nelson, S., Leach, A.J., & Andrews, R. (2007). Clear not simple: an approach to community consultation for a maternal pneumococcal vaccine trial among Indigenous women in the Northern Territory of Australia. Vaccine, 25(13), 2385-8.
5. Snelling, T.L., Markey, P., Carapetis, J.R, & Andrews, R.M. (2012). Rotavirus in the Northern Territory before and after vaccination. Microbiology Australia, 33(2), 61-63.
6. Snelling, T.L., Andrews, R.M., Kirkwood, C.D., Culvenor, S., & Carapetis, J.R. (2011). Case-control evaluation of the effectiveness of the G1P[8] human rotavirus vaccine during an outbreak of rotavirus G2P[4] infection in central Australia. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 52(2), 191-9.
7. Snelling, T.L., Schultz, R., Graham, J., Roseby, R., Barnes, G.L., Andrews, R.M., & Carapetis, J.R. (2009). Rotavirus and the Indigenous children of the Australian outback: monovalent vaccine effective in a high-burden setting. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 49(3), 428-31.

Click here to view more vaccination publications in PubMed.