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Campylobacter spp. are a globally important cause of bacterial gastroenteritis, with Australia experiencing higher rates of illness than many comparable high-income countries. Despite the high disease incidence, outbreaks of campylobacteriosis in Australia are infrequently detected and reported. We examined the epidemiology of Campylobacter outbreaks in Australia, with particular emphasis on assessing transmission routes and evidence as reported during public health investigations. A national register of enteric and foodborne disease outbreaks was used to summarize data on all Campylobacter outbreaks reported in Australia between 2001 and 2016. Outbreak data were reviewed and analyzed for trends over time. Additional information was sought from state and territory epidemiologists, to validate transmission routes. A total of 84 Campylobacter outbreaks were reported, with 51 (61%) being classified as foodborne. Specific food vehicles were identified for 33 (65%) outbreaks, with 28 (85%) implicating chicken or chicken-containing dishes. Although no increase in the proportion of foodborne Campylobacter outbreaks was observed, examination of specific food vehicles demonstrated a significant increase in outbreaks because of poultry-liver containing foods (p = 0.04). One quarter of all 1042 outbreak-associated cases occurred in aged-care facilities (ACFs), including 17 associated hospitalizations and three deaths. After review of evidence data, 23 outbreaks (27%) were determined to have an unknown route of transmission, including 10 (43%) outbreaks occurring in ACFs. Campylobacter spp. remain a less commonly reported cause of gastroenteritis outbreaks in Australia. Although many reported outbreaks can be linked to foodborne transmission, over a quarter were unable to identify either a food vehicle or transmission source, particularly for outbreaks occurring in aged care. Increased efforts to improve evidence collection and understanding of transmission dynamics for outbrea

Locally acquired hepatitis A infection is re-emerging in Australia owing to person-to-person outbreaks among men who have sex with men and imported frozen produce. This paper describes a multi-state foodborne outbreak in the first half of 2018. Enhanced human epidemiological investigation including a case–control study, as well as microbial surveillance and trace-back investigations concluded that the outbreak was caused by consumption of imported frozen pomegranate arils. A total of 30 cases of hepatitis A infection, genotype IB with identical sequences met the outbreak case definition, including 27 primary cases and three secondary cases. Twenty-five (83%) of the cases were hospitalised for their illness and there was one death. Imported frozen pomegranate arils from Egypt were strongly implicated as the source of infection through case interviews (19 of 26 primary cases) as well as from a case–control study (adjusted odds ratio 43.4, 95% confidence interval 4.2–448.8, P = 0.002). Hepatitis A virus (HAV) was subsequently detected by polymerase chain reaction in two food samples of the frozen pomegranate aril product. This outbreak was detected and responded to promptly owing to routine genetic characterisation of HAVs from all hepatitis A infections in Australia as part of a national hepatitis A enhanced surveillance project. This is now the third outbreak of hepatitis A in Australia from imported frozen fruits. A re-assessment of the risk of these types of imported foods is strongly recommended.

The extent to which women have progressed relative to men in male-dominated occupations has been, and is likely to continue to be, subject to academic debate. This research adds to the debate by evaluating women's relative progress during the 1980s in the occupation of computer work, focusing on mobility and turnover, segregation, and earnings. The evaluation is made in the context of theories of human capital and gender socialization, resegregation and ghettoization, Blalock's male resistance, Kanter's strength in numbers, Jacobs's revolving doors and social control, and a hybrid theory of controlled progress combining the last two. By trend analysis and regression, this work contrasts the career moves, locations, and rewards of men and women in computer programming, systems analysis, computer and systems engineering, and other computer specialties using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Department of Education, and a panel of 6200 computer workers in the NSF Survey of Natural and Social Scientists and Engineers. The key findings are that the earnings gap narrowed and gender segregation lessened during the 1980s. Women were thus making collective progress. Many, however, were declining to take advantage of it. During the same period and after two decades of rising, women's representation in computer work began to fall. More women than men declined to enter, more women left than entered, and women left at higher rates than men after controlling for background, education, experience, and structural location. Drawing on earlier findings that an engineering-like workplace culture pervades computer work, analysis confirms that many women are disadvantaged by their lack of engineering credentials and experience. This engineering deficit denies many access to occupational moves into non-computer work; such moves are shown to facilitate both salary increases and later moves into management. Thus, while women's situation in the field is improving by some measure