Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit (APSU) Annual Surveillance Report 2023

Authors

  • Suzy M Teutsch The Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit, Kids Research Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network (Westmead)
  • Carlos A Nunez The Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit; The University of Sydney, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Specialty of Child and Adolescent Health, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; The Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network, Westmead, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
  • Anne Morris The Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit; The University of Sydney, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Specialty of Child and Adolescent Health, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; The Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network, Westmead, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
  • Guy D Eslick The University of Sydney, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Specialty of Child and Adolescent Health, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; The Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network, Westmead, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; Director of Research, the Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit
  • Elizabeth Elliott The University of Sydney, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Specialty of Child and Adolescent Health, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; The Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network, Westmead, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; Director of the Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit
  • Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit (APSU)

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33321/cdi.2025.49.019

Keywords:

australia, child, communicable diseases, emerging infectious diseases, public health surveillance

Abstract

The Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit (APSU) has been conducting prospective national surveillance of rare communicable diseases, and complications of communicable diseases, of childhood and infancy for more than three decades. In 2023, there were 15 communicable diseases and complications of communicable diseases under APSU surveillance, which included: acute flaccid paralysis (AFP), congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV), dengue, severe acute hepatitis (SAH), neonatal and infant herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection, perinatal exposure to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and paediatric HIV infection, severe complications of influenza, juvenile-onset recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (JoRRP), Q fever, congenital rubella infection/syndrome, congenital varicella syndrome (CVS) and neonatal varicella infection (NVI), as well as two new communicable diseases, which were paediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome temporally associated with SARS-CoV-2 (PIMS-TS) and Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) infection. The results of 2023 APSU surveillance show a marked increase in severe influenza cases for the first time in five years, with more complications associated with influenza type B. Moreover, one child died and only 6% of children received a seasonal influenza vaccine. The APSU also received reports of cases of rare emerging diseases: dengue, Q fever and PIMS-TS. Furthermore, our results show a persistence of vaccine-preventable JoRRP, mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and deaths from neonatal HSV.

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25/03/25

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Teutsch, Suzy M, Carlos A Nunez, Anne Morris, Guy D Eslick, Elizabeth Elliott, and Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit (APSU). 2025. “Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit (APSU) Annual Surveillance Report 2023”. Communicable Diseases Intelligence 49 (March). https://doi.org/10.33321/cdi.2025.49.019.

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Vol. 49 (2025)

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Annual report

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