Australia's notifiable diseases status, 2009: Annual report of the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System - Quarantinable diseases

Results, cont'd

Quarantinable diseases

Human diseases covered by the Quarantine Act 1908, and notifiable in Australia and to the WHO in 2009 were cholera, plague, rabies, yellow fever, smallpox, highly pathogenic avian influenza in humans (HPAIH), severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), human swine influenza (H1N1) and 4 viral haemorrhagic fevers (Ebola, Marburg, Lassa and Crimean–Congo).

Cholera, plague, rabies, smallpox, yellow fever, SARS, HPAIH, H1N1 and viral haemorrhagic fevers are of international public health importance. Travellers are advised to seek information on the risk of contracting these diseases at their destinations and to take appropriate measures. More information on quarantinable diseases and travel health can be found on the following web sites:

Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing web site at: http://www1.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/health-pubhlth-strateg-quaranti-index.htm

Smartraveller: The Australian Government’s travel advisory and consular assistance service at: http://www.smartraveller.gov.au/

There were no cases of plague, rabies, smallpox, yellow fever, SARS, HPAIH or viral haemorrhagic fevers reported in Australia in 2009. Table 14 provides information on the occurrence of quarantinable diseases in Australia.

Table 14: Australia’s status for human quarantinable diseases, 2009

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Cholera

In 2009, there were 4 notifications of cholera reported to the NNDSS in Australia, three from New South Wales and one from Victoria. All were acquired overseas.

All cases of cholera reported since the commencement of the NNDSS in 1991 have been acquired outside Australia except for 1 case of laboratory-acquired cholera in 1996³⁶ and 3 cases in 2006.³⁷ There have been 19 cases of cholera notified between 2004 and 2008 (Table 6).