This article {extract} was published in Communicable Diseases Intelligence Vol 31 No 1 March 2007 and may be downloaded as a full version PDF from the Table of contents page.

Other communicable disease surveillance

Laboratory Virology and Serology Reporting Scheme

The Laboratory Virology and Serology Reporting Scheme (LabVISE) is a passive surveillance scheme based on voluntary reports of infectious agents from sentinel virology and serology laboratories around Australia. LabVISE provides data on diagnoses of a number of infectious viruses, parasites and fungi. Interpretation of data from LabVISE is limited by uncertainties regarding its representativeness, lack of denominator data to calculate positivity rates, variable reporting coverage over time and lack of consistent case definitions. However, LabVISE has an important role in supplementing information of diseases under surveillance in NNDSS and in monitoring infectious agents that are not reported by other surveillance systems.

In 2005, a total of 12 laboratories reported 22,316 infectious agents to LabVISE. This represents a 15% decrease in the number of reports received in 2004 (Table 19). Most of the reports were from South Australia (30%), Queensland (27%) and Western Australia (16%) (Table 19).

Fifty three per cent (11,747) of all reports received by LabVISE were viral infectious agents, and the remaining 47% (10,569) were bacterial or other infectious agents. Among viruses, herpes viruses (40%; 4,691) were the most commonly reported followed by ortho/paramyxoviruses (27%; 3,158), which includes influenza, parainfluenza and respiratory syncytial viruses (Figure 67). Among non-viral infectious agents, Chlamydia trachomatis (48%; 5,049), Bordetella pertussis (15%; 1,573) and Mycoplasma pneumoniae (12%; 1,309) were the most commonly reported pathogens.

Table 19. Infectious agents reported to the Laboratory Virology and Serology Reporting Scheme, 2005, by state or territory

Organism	State or territory								Total 2005	Total 2004
	ACT	NSW	NT	Qld	SA	Tas	Vic	WA
Measles virus	–	1	–	4	2	–	1	–	8	35
Mumps virus	–	1	–	10	11	–	15	1	38	6
Rubella virus	–	–	–	6	–	–	4	2	12	20
Hepatitis A virus	–	3	2	17	29	–	–	2	53	51
Hepatitis D virus	–	–	–	1	9	–	4	–	14	8
Hepatitis E virus	–	–	–	2	1	–	9	–	12	14
Ross River virus	–	7	45	269	93	2	15	21	452	743
Barmah Forest virus	–	8	1	144	32	–	–	–	185	195
Flavivirus (unspecified)	–	1	3	30	–	–	3	–	37	102
Adenovirus type 1	–	1	–	–	–	–	6	–	7	–
Adenovirus not typed/pending	–	167	1	84	308	1	118	1	680	1,052
Herpes virus type 6	–	–	–	–	–	–	2	–	2	6
Cytomegalovirus	13	295	11	90	524	10	96	3	1,042	834
Varicella-zoster virus	7	152	11	882	386	11	48	2	1,499	2,061
Epstein-Barr virus	–	93	87	812	729	4	66	357	2,148	2,367
Poxvirus group not typed	–	1	–	–	–	–	1	–	2	2
Parvovirus	1	16	–	93	61	1	30	–	202	413
Coxsackievirus A9	–	3	–	–	–	–	–	–	3	1
Coxsackievirus A16	1	5	–	–	–	–	–	–	6	5
Echovirus type 5	–	2	–	–	–	–	–	–	2	–
Echovirus type 6	–	2	–	–	–	–	–	–	2	–
Echovirus type 7	–	8	–	–	–	–	–	–	8	12
Echovirus type 9	–	2	–	–	–	–	–	–	2	10
Echovirus type 11	–	4	–	–	–	–	–	–	4	20
Echovirus type 13	–	1	–	–	–	–	–	–	1	–
Echovirus type 18	1	13	–	–	–	–	–	–	14	19
Echovirus type 22	–	1	–	–	–	–	–	–	1	2
Echovirus type 30	1	34	–	–	1	–	–	–	36	7
Poliovirus type 1 (uncharacterised)	–	21	–	–	–	–	–	–	21	18
Poliovirus type 2 (uncharacterised)	–	19	–	–	–	–	–	–	19	21
Poliovirus type 3 (uncharacterised)	–	6	–	–	–	–	–	–	6	9
Rhinovirus (all types)	3	265	–	–	58	1	2	–	329	617
Enterovirus type 71 (BCR)	1	2	–	–	–	–	–	–	3	3
Enterovirus not typed/pending	5	126	–	25	13	1	18	–	188	205
Picornavirus not typed	–	–	–	–	–	1	–	–	1	4
Influenza A virus	–	159	3	97	356	–	93	–	708	492
Influenza A virus H3N2	–	1	–	–	–	–	1	–	2	–
Influenza B virus	–	46	–	25	146	1	39	–	257	219
Parainfluenza virus type 1	–	25	–	2	17	–	20	–	64	143
Parainfluenza virus type 2	–	22	–	4	18	–	5	–	49	15
Parainfluenza virus type 3	–	129	–	13	201	2	45	–	390	655
Respiratory syncytial virus	2	750	–	262	338	57	267	3	1,679	2,599
Paramyxovirus (unspecified)	–	–	–	–	–	–	9	–	9	–
HTLV-1	–	–	–	–	8	–	1	–	9	15
Rotavirus	2	484	1	1	588	12	182	–	1,270	1,247
Astrovirus	–	–	–	–	–	–	4	–	4	–
Norwalk agent	–	–	–	–	–	–	267	–	267	659
Chlamydia trachomatis not typed	10	773	10	2,324	1,809	59	61	3	5,049	5,257
Chlamydia pneumoniae	–	4	–	–	–	–	4	–	8	9
Chlamydia psittaci	–	2	–	–	1	–	50	–	53	173
Chlamydia species	–	–	–	–	–	–	1	–	1	3
Mycoplasma pneumoniae	–	111	20	458	342	45	244	89	1,309	1,374
Mycoplasma hominis	–	7	–	–	–	–	–	–	7	5
Coxiella burnetii (Q fever)	1	10	–	39	87	–	25	–	162	173
Rickettsia prowazeki	–	–	–	–	161	–	–	–	161	105
Rickettsia australis	–	–	–	–	–	–	1	–	1	–
Rickettsia tsutsugamushi	–	–	–	–	71	–	–	–	71	67
Rickettsia - Spotted fever group	–	–	–	–	232	4	–	–	236	139
Streptococcus group A	–	11	–	441	–	1	156	–	609	467
Yersinia enterocolitica	–	6	–	–	–	–	–	–	6	8
Brucella abortus	–	1	–	–	1	–	1	–	3	6
Brucella species	–	5	–	9	–	–	–	–	14	9
Bordetella pertussis	1	87	5	224	992	1	263	–	1,573	1,358
Bordetella parapertussis	–	–	–	–	–	–	2	–	2	1
Legionella pneumophila	–	5	–	–	10	–	8	–	23	77
Legionella longbeachae	–	2	–	–	41	–	8	–	51	76
Legionella species	–	–	–	1	–	–	–	–	1	15
Cryptococcus species	–	2	–	8	31	–	–	–	41	38
Leptospira species	–	1	–	19	13	–	–	–	33	23
Treponema pallidum	2	180	4	489	410	–	1	–	1,086	1,154
Entamoeba histolytica	–	–	–	7	–	–	7	–	14	14
Toxoplasma gondii	–	16	–	10	13	1	5	–	45	41
Echinococcus granulosus	–	1	–	–	9	–	–	–	10	15
Total	51	4,100	204	6,902	8,152	215	2,208	484	22,316	25,513

Figure 67. Reports of viral infections to the Laboratory Virology and Serology Reporting Scheme, 2005, by viral group