New system for emergency wards to help raise alerts for infectious disease and immune reactions among kids

A real-time early warning system to raise alerts about serious immunisation reactions and infectious disease outbreaks among children is to be rolled out for the first time across Victoria’s pediatric hospitals. Researchers say the Australian-first project will help treat children earlier, protect the public quicker from infectious disease and prevent deaths from vaccine safety problems. Associate Professor Jim Buttery, Head of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Monash Children’s Hospital, said the two aims of the Syntrack project were to use emergency department data to detect vaccine safety problems and outbreaks of influenzas, gastrointestinal complaints and other viruses as early as possible. “Knowing earlier means we can treat patients quicker,” Associate Prof Buttery said. “From the Health Department’s point of view, if there is an infectious disease outbreak that may also mean they can implement infection control procedures earlier to minimise the spread. “It protects the public in a number of ways.” The Royal Children’s Hospital,...