Childhood Infection

Childhood Infection

This area of the research programme can be split into three main areas of study as outlined below. However, most of this research strongly overlaps with the department's Centre for Primary Care Paediatrics.

Measurement of vital signs in children

We are continuing our studies aimed at improving the early diagnosis of serious illness in children. We are particularly interested in developing technology to allow more reliable, accurate and less time consuming measurements of vital signs (e.g. temperature, heart and respiratory rates) in children. Professor Tarrasenko’s group has developed technology to allow the measurement of respiratory rates in children using pulse oximetry. We now have studies underway to address the feasibility of this technology in primary care, specifically assessing the reliability of measurement and how well tolerated the device is with both parents and children. If successful, the technology will be trialled in emergency departments and GP surgeries as part of normal child assessment.

Pertussis

Our current studies are determining the frequency of whooping cough infections within the population, as well as assessing the immune response to vaccination, through the detection of pertussis-specific antibodies. In collaboration with the Health Protection Agency, Dr Anthony Harnden and colleagues are currently using mouth swabs to detect antibody production following vaccination, both in children receiving their pre-school booster and more recently in infants following their primary course of immunisations. We are also tracking the decline in the levels of these antibodies over time. The development of a simple swab for the detection of pertussis exposure has greatly improved the diagnostic options available within primary care, eliminating the need to take blood samples. The information that will be obtained from these studies will greatly enhance our understanding of the prevalence of whooping cough and could potentially influence future vaccination schedules.

Predicting Serious Illness in Children

As part of a European collaboration, we have completed a systematic review of clinical predictions of serious infections in children. This summarises which clinical features offer sufficient accuracy to be “red flags” in children. This group is also pooling data collected from primary and emergency care settings so that we can create better prediction rules for serious infection. So far we have data on about 10,000 children.