Program lead: Prof Raina MacIntyre
Dr Abrar Chughtai, A/Prof Anthony Newall, A/Prof James Wood, A/Prof Bette Liu , Elizabeth Kpozehouen
Students: Dr Aye Moa, Ms Amalie Dyda
Older adults have a higher incidence and greater severity of vaccine-preventable diseases, due to both immune senescence and multiple co-morbidities.
The VIRL team has a track record of novel research in older populations, which will be used to build on research capacity in these important but understudied areas. Continuing improvements in health care, nutrition and disease prevention have led to dramatic increases in the proportion of the population that is elderly, which are set to continue.
This shift in population age structure is accompanied by an increase in the number of older adults who require greater levels of acute and chronic health care. Despite this, older adults are still under-vaccinated compared to younger populations.
We build on our track record of clinical research in the prevention of influenza and pneumococcal disease in frail, hospitalised or institutionalised elderly. We also examine other under-studied vaccine-preventable diseases in this group, such as pertussis and herpes zoster.
