Results

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. 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 2006, a total of 11 laboratories reported 19,384 infectious agents to LabVISE. This represents a 13% decrease in the number of reports received in 2005 (Table 22). Most of the reports were from South Australia (30%), Queensland (27%) and New South Wales (20%) (Table 22).

Table 22. Infectious agents reported to the Laboratory Virology and Serology Reporting Scheme (LabVISE) 2006, by state or territory

Organism	State or territory								Total 2006	Total 2005
	ACT	NSW	NT	Qld	SA	Tas.	Vic.	WA
Measles virus	–	27	–	4	10	6	10	–	57	8
Mumps virus	1	–	1	7	4	–	14	–	27	38
Rubella virus	–	2	–	4	1	–	4	2	13	12
Hepatitis A virus	–	4	3	9	7	–	1	7	31	53
Hepatitis D virus	–	–	–	1	4	–	2	–	7	14
Hepatitis E virus	–	–	–	1	–	–	5	–	6	12
Ross River virus	–	41	45	662	222	1	31	60	1,062	452
Barmah Forest virus	–	10	–	127	146	–	6	–	289	185
Flavivirus (unspecified)	–	1	–	37	–	–	9	–	47	37
Adenovirus type 1	–	–	–	–	–	–	3	–	3	7
Adenovirus not typed/pending	10	284	1	38	163	–	126	–	622	680
Herpes virus type 6	–	–	–	–	–	–	4	–	4	2
Cytomegalovirus	4	221	1	95	410	17	111	3	862	1,042
Varicella-zoster virus	3	137	1	583	266	7	40	–	1,037	1,499
Epstein-Barr virus	–	16	93	483	428	7	34	384	1,445	2,148
Molluscum contagiosum	–	–	–	–	–	–	1	–	1	–
Poxvirus group not typed	–	–	–	–	–	–	3	–	3	2
Parvovirus	–	5	–	77	78	1	25	–	186	202
Coxsackievirus A9	–	16	–	–	–	–	–	–	16	3
Coxsackievirus A16	–	2	–	–	–	–	–	–	2	6
Echovirus type 34	–	1	–	–	–	–	–	–	1	–
Echovirus type 3	–	3	–	–	–	–	–	–	3	–
Echovirus type 5	–	2	–	–	–	–	–	–	2	2
Echovirus type 8	–	1	–	–	–	–	–	–	1	–
Echovirus type 11	–	2	–	–	–	–	–	–	2	4
Echovirus type 18	–	2	–	–	–	–	–	–	2	14
Echovirus type 22	–	4	–	–	–	–	–	–	4	1
Echovirus type 30	–	16	–	–	–	–	–	–	16	36
Rhinovirus (all types)	1	182	–	–	20	1	1	1	206	329
Enterovirus not typed/pending	6	73	–	11	2	3	7	–	102	187
Picornavirus not typed	–	–	–	–	–	1	1	–	2	1
Influenza A virus	3	79	–	69	68	4	114	–	337	708
Influenza A virus H3N2	–	1	–	–	–	–	–	–	1	2
Influenza B virus	–	42	–	15	81	–	34	–	172	257
Parainfluenza virus type 1	–	25	–	–	26	–	23	–	74	64
Parainfluenza virus type 2	–	9	–	1	5	–	–	–	15	49
Parainfluenza virus type 3	1	103	–	15	54	–	46	–	219	390
Respiratory syncytial virus	–	846	1	186	375	28	372	–	1,808	1,679
HTLV-1	–	–	–	–	6	–	–	–	6	9
Rotavirus	3	579	–	–	323	77	301	2	1,285	1,270
Astrovirus	–	–	–	–	–	–	1	–	1	4
Norwalk agent	–	25	–	–	–	–	1,513	–	1,538	267
Chlamydia trachomatis not typed	22	874	1	1,558	1,322	54	50	2	3,883	5,049
Chlamydia pneumoniae	–	–	–	–	–	–	1	–	1	8
Chlamydia psittaci	–	7	–	–	1	–	57	–	65	53
Chlamydia spp typing pending	–	1	–	–	–	–	–	–	1	–
Chlamydia species	–	1	–	–	–	–	1	–	2	1
Mycoplasma pneumoniae	1	28	12	384	273	26	210	101	1,035	1,309
Mycoplasma hominis	–	23	–	–	–	–	–	–	23	7
Coxiella burnetii (Q fever)	–	4	3	32	44	1	20	–	104	162
Rickettsia prowazeki	–	–	–	–	24	–	–	–	24	161
Orentia tsutsugamushi	–	–	–	–	25	–	1	–	26	71
Rickettsia – spotted fever group	–	–	–	–	85	2	–	–	87	236
Streptococcus group A	–	6	–	294	–	–	77	–	377	609
Yersinia enterocolitica	–	4	–	1	–	–	–	–	5	6
Brucella species	–	2	–	3	–	–	–	–	5	14
Bordetella pertussis	2	45	3	157	1,003	1	102	–	1,313	1,573
Legionella pneumophila	–	7	–	–	13	–	8	–	28	23
Legionella longbeachae	1	–	–	–	10	–	10	–	21	51
Legionella species	–	–	–	–	–	–	1	–	1	1
Cryptococcus species	–	2	–	6	11	–	–	–	19	41
Leptospira species	–	2	–	9	7	–	–	–	18	33
Treponema pallidum	–	164	3	363	250	–	6	–	786	1,086
Entamoeba histolytica	–	–	–	1	–	–	–	–	1	14
Toxoplasma gondii	–	8	–	7	10	4	10	–	39	45
Echinococcus granulosus	–	–	–	–	3	–	–	–	3	10
Total	58	3,939	168	5,240	5,780	241	3,396	562	19,384	22,238

– No data received.

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Fifty-nine per cent (11,517) of all reports received by LabVISE were viral infectious agents, and the remaining 41% (7,867) were bacterial or other infectious agents. Among viruses, herpes viruses (17%; 3,348) (including herpes virus type 6, cytomegalovirus, varicella-zoster virus, Epstein-Barr virus), RNA viruses (15%; 2,830) (including HTLV-1, rotavirus, astrovirus and Norwalk agent) and ortho/paramyxoviruses (14%; 2,626) (including influenza, parainfluenza and respiratory syncytial viruses) were the most commonly reported pathogens (Figure 78). Among non-viral infectious agents, Chlamydia trachomatis (20%; 3,883), Bordetella pertussis (7%; 1,313) and Mycoplasma pneumoniae (5%; 1,035) were the most commonly reported pathogens.

Figure 78. Reports of viral infections to the Laboratory Virology and Serology Reporting Scheme, 2006, by viral group

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