PAEDS - Paediatric Active Enhanced Surveillance
The PAEDS study aims to test the value of hospital-based active
surveillance for identifying and investigating childhood conditions
of public health importance.
Some childhood conditions of public health importance are difficult to adequately measure by current surveillance systems. In some cases they rely on doctors reporting, and in other cases there are no surveillance systems in place at all. Often there is a reluctance to provide the necessary biological samples for surveillance purposes.
This study actively monitors three conditions in four tertiary
paediatric hospitals in Perth, Melbourne, Sydney and
Adelaide. The conditions being monitored are:
- Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP), a condition causing paralysis and loss of tone in one or more limbs.
- Severe varicella (chicken pox) requiring hospitalization.
- Intussusception, a type of bowel obstruction in infants.