Author Profile

Chandini Raina MacIntyre

Affiliation: School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia

C. Raina MacIntyre is Head of the School of Public Health and Community Medicine at University of New South Wales, Sydney NSW, AUSTRALIA and Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology. She runs a highly strategic research program spanning epidemiology, vaccinology, mathematical modelling, public health and clinical trials in infectious diseases. She is best known for research in the detailed understanding of the transmission dynamics and prevention of infectious diseases, particularly respiratory pathogens such as influenza, tuberculosis and other vaccine-preventable infections. She has led the largest body of research internationally on face masks and respirators in health care workers. She has a particular interest in adult vaccination with a focus on the elderly. Specific vaccination interests include influenza, pneumococcal disease, HPV and herpes zoster. She has done recent work on vaccine effectiveness of influenza vaccine against myocardial infarction. She is an international leader in emerging infections, and is involved in numerous face mask, vaccine, influenza and other infectious diseases research studies that directly inform national and international policy and practice in communicable disease control. She has over 230 publications in peer-reviewed journals.

Recent Posts

Does Zika Virus Cause Microcephaly – Applying the Bradford Hill Viewpoints

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Introduction: Zika virus has been documented since 1952, but been associated with mild, self-limiting disease. Zika virus is classified as an arbovirus from a family of Flaviviridae and primarily spread by Aedes Aegypti mosquitos. However, in a large outbreak in Brazil in 2015, Zika virus has been associated with microcephaly.

Methods: In this review we applied the Bradford-Hill viewpoints  to investigate the association between Zika virus and microcephaly. We examined historical studies, available data and also compared historical rates of microcephaly prior to the Zika virus outbreak. The available evidence was reviewed against the Bradford Hill viewpoints.

Results: All  the nine criteria were met to varying degrees: strength of association, consistency of the association, specificity, temporality, plausibility, coherence, experimental evidence, biological gradient and analogy.

Conclusion: Using the Bradford Hill Viewpoints as an evaluation framework for causation is highly suggestive that the association between Zika virus and microcephaly is causal. Further studies using animal models on the viewpoints which were not as strongly fulfilled would be helpful.