Mortality from Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) Infection in Australian Children, 1999-2011 Using National Datasets

This study examines national childhood HSV mortality data in Australia from 1999-2011. This information is important to better understand the disease burden of HSV in early life and to formulate public health interventions.

Retrospective analysis of Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) national mortality data from 1999- 2011 in children aged <15 years who died with specific ICD-10 codes for HSV infection listed as an underlying or contributing cause.

Twenty nine HSV-associated deaths in children aged <15 years from 1999-2011 were identified (0.05 per 100,000 children; 95% CI 0.04-0.06), 16 in the first month of life (0.45 per 100,000 live births; 95% CI 0.23- 0.67). Among those, 20 were males and 9 were females (p=0.04). The majority of deaths (69%) occurred in infants aged <12 months and most in infants aged <1 month (55%). HSV-associated death in infants aged < 1 month of age accounted for 0.15% of all neonatal deaths for 1999-2011 in Australia. A downward trend in HSV-associated neonatal mortality was observed between 1999 and 2011 (p=0.52). During the study period, mortality from HSV infections in Australian children resulted in an estimated 2,275 age-adjusted years of potential life lost.

This data confirms reported findings from active surveillance of a downward trend in mortality rate from HSV infection in infants aged < 1 month in Australia over this period. Ongoing surveillance is required to confirm this observation.