An introduction to Infectious disease epidemiology in Australia, disease emergence to elimination

In this thesis, I present the body of work I completed as part of my Master of Philosophy (Applied Epidemiology) at the Australian National University. I completed a placement within the Australian Government Department of Health, Office of Health Protection, Communicable Disease Epidemiology and Surveillance Section. I discuss my experiences as an MAE scholar and my participation in activities I completed as part of my field placement. I describe the establishment of the First Few X household transmission project within the Australian context, which aimed to explore the household transmission dynamics of novel coronavirus disease 2019. The experiences establishing this project in a short timeframe after the emergence of novel coronavirus disease 2019 in Australia are explored. I conducted an investigation of an acute public health problem at Alfred Health on a carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae. Multivariable conditional logistic regression was used to identify independent risk factors for the acquisition of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae. Multivariable analysis revealed several independent risk factors associated with carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae imipenamase-4 acquisition including presence of a central venous catheter, indwelling urinary, and administration of trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole or penicillin (without a beta-lactamase inhibitor) in the 30 days preceding specimen collection date. Radiology prior to specimen collection was protective. This study contributed to the growing body of evidence on this increasingly prevalent antibiotic-resistant organism. My data analysis project describes the clinical presentation of invasive meningococcal disease using the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System enhanced surveillance data 2017 and 2018. This is the first study to describe the clinical presentation of invasive meningococcal disease in all serogroups. I present findings from a study that describes donovanosis elimination in Australia. This study included an analysis of the epidemiology of donovanosis in Australia between 1991 and 2018 and a Delphi method questionnaire with donovanosis experts on the current status of donovanosis elimination in Australia and what might be required in order for elimination to be declared. Finally, this thesis provides learnings from two teaching activities conducted as part of the Master of Philosophy (Applied Epidemiology) program, with reflections on the teaching sessions and lessons I learned.