Brief Biography

Clinical Care Activities

Paediatric HIV
Management of HIV infected children and children born to HIV infected mothers

Congenital infections
Management of children with suspected or confirmed congenital infections

Infectious Diseases-related consultations
Consultations in previously healthy and immunocompromised patients with a wide range of infectious diseases

Research Interests

1. Prevention of mother-to-child transmission, paediatric HIV and complications of antiretroviral therapy.
2. Infection of the central nervous system; primary focus on the causes of acute childhood encephalitis.

Future Research Interests

Expansion of research activities related to infections of the central nervous system with a focus on the etiology and pathogenesis of acute childhood encephalitis.

External Funding

Peer reviewed

• Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR)
• Physician’s Services Incorporated Foundation
  

Publications

Salter R, King SM, Smith ML, Bitnun A, Brophy J, Fernandes-Penney A, Lefebvre A, Louch D, MacDougall G, Moore W, Read SE. Disclosing HIV diagnosis to infected children: a health care team's approach. Vulnerable Children & Youth Studies Journal 2007: 2: pp 12-16.

Brophy J, Yau Y, Cox P, Katz K, Bitnun A. A sentinel fatal paediatric case of community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Canada. Paediatrics and Child Health 2007: 12: pp 319-322.

Elbers J, Bitnun A, Richardson SE, Ford-Jones E, Tellier R, Wald R, Petric M, Kolski H, Heurter H, MacGregor D. A 12-year prospective study of childhood herpes simplex encephalitis: is there a broader spectrum of disease? Pediatrics 2007: 119: pp e399.

Bitnun A, Sochett E, Dick P, To T, Jefferies C, Babyn P, Forbes J, Read S, King SM: Insulin sensitivity and beta-cell function in protease inhibitor-treated and -naive HIV-infected children. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism 2005: 90: pp 168-174.

Bitnun A, Allen U, Heurter H, King S, Opavsky MA, Ford-Jones EL, Matlow A, Kitai I, Tellier R, Richardson S, Manson D, Babyn P, Read S and other members of The Hospital for Sick Children SARS Investigation Team. Children hospitalized with severe acute respiratory syndrome-related illness in Toronto. Pediatrics 2003: 112: pp e261.

Bitnun A, Sochett E, Babyn P, Holowka S, Stephens D, Arneson C, Read S, King SM. Serum lipids, glucose homeostasis and abdominal adipose tissue distribution in protease inhibitor-treated and -naïve HIV-infected children. AIDS 2003: 17: pp 1319-1327.

Bitnun A, Ford-Jones EL, Blaser S, Richardson S. Mycoplasma pneumoniae encephalitis. Seminars in Pediatric Infectious Diseases 2003: 14: pp 96-107.

Bitnun A, King SM, Arneson C, Read SE. Failure to prevent perinatal HIV infection. Canadian Medical Association Journal 2002: 166: pp 904-905.

Bitnun A, Ford-Jones EL, Petric M, McGregor D, Heurter H, Nelson S, Grant Johnson, Richardson S. Acute childhood encephalitis and Mycoplasma pneumoniae. Clinical Infectious Disease 2001: 32: pp 1674-1684.