The Heart Foundation of Heartweek is on the 6th to 12th May.
The 2012 Influenza Vaccination Program will commence nationally on Thursday 15th March 2012
Children presenting to the emergency department with moderate or severe asthma attacks are less likely to be admitted to hospital if they are treated with systemic corticosteroids within the first 75 minutes after triage, according to a new study.
Central Queensland University conductes the largest Australian sleep census to explore the sleep habits of the nation. 
New research shows increased information and education regarding the neurocognitive, cardiovascular and metabolic consequences of untreated OSA, as well as the importance of persisting with the treatment has positive consequences on patients CPAP compliance.
New research results reinforce the value of follow-up tools following right heart catheterisation and provide further support for some of the treatment goals currently suggested by international guidelines.A new and potentially more pathogenic group of human rhinoviruses, rhinovirus group C, (HRVC) is associated with asthma attacks in children.
In addition, asthma attacks in children infected with this new subtype of the virus were found to be more severe, an Australian study suggests 1.
In a study of 128 children presenting with asthma, the new rhinovirus was found in 60% of children with acute asthma and it was associated with higher asthma severity scores.
Children aged 2–16 yrs presenting to the emergency department with an asthma attack were included in the study. An asthma attack severity score (from 5 mild to 15 severe) was assigned to each child based on clinical characteristics. Nasal samples were tested for viruses causing respiratory infections.
The majority of the children studied had moderate to severe asthma (85.2%) and 98.9% were admitted to hospital. The overwhelming majority of children (92.2%) had a respiratory infection at the time of their asthma attack, and most infections (87.5%) were caused by the common cold virus HRV. Other respiratory viruses were detected in 14.8% of children, most of whom also had HRV. HRVC were present in the majority of children with acute asthma (59.4%) and associated with more severe asthma.
When looking at asthma attack severity, researchers from the University of Western Australia in Perth found that the new types of common cold virus were more commonly found in asthmatics whose attacks were significantly more severe. The majority (59.4%, 76 out of 128) of children with acute asthma were infected with an HRVC strain compared with 26.6% (34 out of 128) whose only HRV infection was with a strain from the HRVA or B group. The 76 children infected with HRVC not only had more severe attacks than those infected with a previously known HRV group; their attacks were also more severe than those of all other children who were not infected with a new HRVC type.
“This is really important because the rhinovirus, predominantly new HRVC strains of rhinovirus, is responsible for more serious disease than previously believed and causes significant morbidity for children with asthma,” documented the author Joelene Bizzintino, School of Paediatrics & Child Health, University of Western Australia.
These novel findings are of fundamental importance to the understanding of asthma in children. “What we need to do now is determine why the new HRVC strains of rhinovirus are so pathogenic and come up with treatment strategies to avoid the severe asthma attacks with which they are associated,” says Bizzintino.
Similar findings were found in studies in the USA. In 2008 investigators from the New Vaccine Surveillance Network assessed 1052 children in 2 counties over a 2 year period 2.
167 (16%) had HRVs detected. Of 147 samples successfully sequenced, 64 were group A HRVs, 6 were group B HRVs, and 77 were HRVCs. Children with HRVCs were significantly more likely than those with group A HRVs to have underlying high-risk conditions, such as asthma (42% vs 23%) .
Overall, HRVCs were detected in 7% of children hospitalized for fever or respiratory conditions and constituted almost half of all rhinovirus-associated hospitalizations, suggesting that this novel group causes a substantial burden of paediatric disease.
Reference:
1. Bizzintino J. et al. European Respiratory Journal. August 2010
2. The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology Volume 123, Issue 1 ,January 2009