Applied Epidemiology of Communicable Diseases

Abstract

Queensland Health's Communicable Diseases Branch is responsible for the monitoring, surveillance, prevention, and control of communicable diseases in Queensland. For the 22 months between February 2020 to December 2021, I undertook a field placement within the Communicable Diseases Branch. This thesis details the projects and experiences undertaken during this time. The projects include investigations of a COVID-19 outbreak commencing at a restaurant in southeast Queensland, a human salmonellosis outbreak associated with live backyard poultry in Australia, the establishment and evaluation of a SARS-CoV-2 test surveillance system used to identify SARS-CoV-2 resident testing in aged care facilities in Queensland, an analysis of site-specific chlamydia notifications in Queensland between 2000 to 2019, and an analysis to assess the effects of pneumococcal vaccination on invasive pneumococcal infection in Queensland between 2000 to 2020. Additionally, this thesis provides a description of other public health learnings and experiences gained during my placement, such as the establishment of the 'First few X' project in Queensland, participation in Queensland's trachoma screening program, my role in the Epi COVID-19 Team of Queensland's Public Health Incident Management Team (COVID-19), and my participation in teaching activities. The projects and experiences detailed in this thesis fulfil the core competencies of the Master of Philosophy (Applied Epidemiology) Program at the Australian National University.