• British Infection Society Fellowship - Dr Sarah Anderson, project on tuberculosis in primary care
• MRC Research Fellowships - Dr Laura Shallcross, Staphylococcal infections in the community, Dr Ben Killingley, Interventions to prevent household transmission of influenza, Dr Charlotte Warren-Gash, Role of influenza as a trigger for acute myocardial infarction

• Integrated academic training in health protection - The National Co-ordinating Centre for Research Capacity Development (NCCRCD) has awarded 5 Academic Clinical Fellowships to the UCL Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology. The IDRN provided advice and support for the application for these fellowships and lectureships.

I-STRAT Trial

• Funded by the MRC for 2 years, this study aims to set up a stepped wedge cluster randomised controlled trial of isolation strategies to reduce endemic levels of MRSA and Clostridium difficile. The study is using a network of 30 hospitals willing to participate, which were recruited through the Infectious Diseases Research Network. The IDRN also provided some input into the construction of the grant application.

National Observational Study of the CleanYourHands campaign, and a cluster randomised trial of the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of feedback in intensive care units and acute general medical wards

• This 5-year study has been funded by the National Patient Safety Agency. Ethics Committee approval has been granted. Recruitment of centres has started. The study includes researchers from the Health Protection Agency, Royal Free and University College Medical School, University College London, The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Infection Control Staff at the Mid-Essex Hospitals Trust. The IDRN support included development of study design, support in preparing funding submissions, and support in MREC applications. The IDRN has also provided web-design expertise in setting up and hosting online resources for this study.
• Click here for the NOSEC webpage, including initial results from the study, publications and a Hand-hygiene Observation Tool.

National Intestinal Infectious Disease Study

• This Food Standards Agency funded study is a collabroative, multi-disciplinary study, and is being led by the University of Manchester. The IDRN provided fora for collaborators to meet, and also organised protocol development groups that laid early foundations for this study.
  

London TB Nurses Patient Profiling Exercise

• Detailed baseline data and 1 year follow up data for over 2000 tuberculosis patients in London have been collected. A series of papers are in development. Key stakeholders include all London TB nurses, the Health Protection Agency and UCL. Key findings have been disseminated to and used by: - local tuberculosis services in order to inform commissioning; the NICE TB guideline development group and the Department of Health in order to inform implementation of the National TB Action Plan.
  The IDRN provided advice on study design, assistance with MREC applications, data cleaning, data analysis and dissemination of results to TB services and the Department of Health.

Evaluation of mobile x-ray unit for tuberculosis screening

• Following a successful pilot involving screening in homeless hostels and Pentonville prison, a bid for funding was submitted to the Department of Health led by Mr Alistair Story (HPA). Funding of £250 000 has been agreed. Preliminary research has been completed, and a full evaluation is under way. The IDRN provided support with protocol development, funding application and the MREC application.

BPSU Study of Childhood tuberculosis

• This is led by Dr Delane Shingadia (St Bartholomew's and the Royal London Medical School), and is in the paper preparation stage. The IDRN provided advice on study design.

MRC Flu-Watch

• The IDRN co-ordinated this successful bid for a large national cohort study of influenza transmission in households. The MRC awarded this project approximately £900 000.

Chronic hepatitis B in the UK - characteristics and prevalence of disease

• Joint funding from industry and Nuffield Foundation has recently been negotiated for this study. The study began in Autumn 2006. The IDRN provided advice on study design, assistance with preparation of the protocol, advice on pseudonymisation of data, advice on the MREC application and the PIAG submission.

Health Survey for England

• Infectious disease epidemiological research using the resource of the Health Survey for England. A collaborative application for funding is in preparation.

NATSAL 2010 - National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles 2010

• This large collaborative application was submitted to the MRC and Wellcome in late 2007. The IDRN provided significant asistance regarding the composition of the funding elements of this complex grant, as well as further administrative assistance.

Is the cultural context of MMR rejection a key to an effective public health discourse?

• The below paper has now been published in the Journal of the Royal Institute of Public Health. The IDRN supported the quantitative work through providing contacts at the Health Protection Agency and provided forums for early presentation of the work which informed analysis.
• Cassell JA, Leach M, Poltorak MS, Mercer CH, Iversen A, Fairhead JR. Is the cultural context of MMR rejection a key to an effective public health discourse? Public Health. 2006 Sep;120(9):783-94

Cost effectiveness of STI services for differing populations in the UK

• The IDRN disseminated information on the MRC 2006 call for proposals for projects relating to sexual health. As a result of this dissemination, a bid was submitted from the UCL Centre for Sexual Heath & HIV Research. This bid was successful, and the group awarded approx £375000. The aim of the project is to build a Decision Analytic Model as a tool for the evidence based planning of the cost-effectiveness of STI services for differing populations in the UK.

Carriage and invasion on multiply-resistant ESBL-producing strains of Escherichia coli

• The IDRN held a research strategy workshop concerning Acinetobacter and infection due to ESBLs on 02 December 2005. Three protocol development groups on the carriage of multiply-resistant ESBL-producing organisms have subsequently been held, with a full application submitted to the MRC Infections and Immunity Board in January 2008.

IGRA use in tuberculosis disease

• This multi-disciplinary, collaborative application was submitted to the Health Technology Assessment call for bids into projects looking at active TB disease (February 2008). The application originated from the IDRN/HPA workshop into interventions trials in the area of health protection, held in London October 07. The IDRN identified this call, and rapidly convened a follow up meeting in response to this call. With the agreement of the project leaders, the IDRN also invited individuals appropriate additional expertise onto the group.

Web based gentamicin monitoring tool

• The IDRN received a request fromDr Armando Gonzalez, a microbiologist seeking statistical support for his study, the development of a web based gentamicin monitoring tool to facilitate safe and effective use of gentamicin. A request was sent out through our mailing list, with several responses received. As a result, Dr Gonzalez collaborated with colleagues at Imperial College London.

ORION statement

• The IDRN provided the web-design expertise to set up a webpage for the ORION statement- guidelines for the transparent reporting of Outbreak Reports and Intervention studies Of Nosocomial infection.This is a CONSORT equivalent for infection control studies. See the statement webpage for more information, including the publications in Lancet Infectious Diseases and the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.

Care Pathways for STIs in Primary Care

• This study used an online intervention and resource, see the study webpage. The IDRN provided the web-design expertise and hosting to set up this intervention.

Accelerated Partner Therapy (APT) Research Study

• This study used an online intervention and resource, see the study webpage. The IDRN provided the web-design expertise to set up this intervention.

Natural History of Mycoplasma genitalium

• This research question arose from an IDRN strategy workshop. A multi-disciplinary collaborative group submitted a grant application to the Health Technology Assessment in late 2006. On this occasion, the bid was not successful.
• Other options for this study are currently being explored.

Potential reduction of healthcare-associated settings, via novel decontamination methods

• This research application arose from an approach from Industry. The IDRN has co-ordinated a grant application to investigate rapid decontamination of hospital areas, particularly communal areas and around bedsides. An outline submission was made to the Health Technology Assessment clinical trials programme. On this occasion, the bid was not successful.