Results

There were 224,434 communicable disease notifications received by NNDSS in 2013 (Table 3).

Table 3: Notifications to the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System, Australia, 2013, by disease category rank order

Disease category	Number	%
Sexually transmissible infections	100,949	45.0
Vaccine preventable diseases	59,630	26.6
Gastrointestinal diseases	32,536	14.5
Bloodborne diseases	17,919	8.0
Vectorborne diseases	10,831	4.8
Other bacterial diseases	1,932	0.9
Zoonoses	634	0.3
Quarantinable diseases	3	<0.1
Total	224,434	100.0

In 2013, the most frequently notified diseases were sexually transmissible infections (100,949 notifications, 45% of total notifications), vaccine preventable diseases (59,630 notifications, 26.6% of total notifications), and gastrointestinal diseases (32,535 notifications, 14.5% of total notifications).

There was a decrease of 8% compared with the total number of notifications in 2012 (Figure 2). The decrease can largely be attributed to the 2013 influenza season, which commenced later and occurred over a shorter period and was considered a more moderate season when compared with the 2012 season.

Figure 2: Notifications received by the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System, Australia, 1991 to 2013

Text version of Figure 2 (TXT 1 KB)

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Notifications and notification rates per 100,000 for each disease in 2013, by state or territory, are shown in Table 4 and Table 5 respectively. Notifications and rates per 100,000 for the period 2008 to 2013 are shown in Table 6.

Table 4: Notified cases of communicable diseases, Australia, 2013, by state or territory

Disease	State or territory								Aust.
	ACT	NSW	NT	Qld	SA	Tas.	Vic.	WA
* Newly acquired hepatitis and syphilis < 2 years duration includes cases where the infection was determined to be acquired within 24 months prior to diagnosis. † Unspecified hepatitis and syphilis includes cases where the duration of infection could not be determined or is greater than 24 months. ‡ In Queensland, includes newly acquired hepatitis C cases. § Infection with Shiga toxin/verotoxin producing Escherichia coli. || Includes Chlamydia trachomatis identified from cervical, rectal, urine, urethral, throat and eye samples, except for South Australia, which reports only cervical, urine and urethral specimens; the Northern Territory and Western Australia exclude ocular infections. From 1 July 2013 the case definition changed to exclude all ocular infections. ¶ The national case definitions for chlamydial, gonococcal and syphilis diagnoses include infections that may be acquired through a non-sexual mode (especially in children – e.g. perinatal infections, epidemic gonococcal conjunctivitis). ** Data for all states and territories are reported by diagnosis date, except Queensland, which is reported by notification receive date. †† In the Australian Capital Territory, Murray Valley encephalitis virus infection and Kunjin virus infection are combined under Murray Valley encephalitis virus infection. ‡‡ Only invasive meningococcal disease is nationally notifiable. However the Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales also report conjunctival cases. HPAIH Highly pathogenic avian influenza in humans. NEC Not elsewhere classified. NN Not notifiable.
Bloodborne diseases
Hepatitis B (newly acquired)*	4	33	6	45	8	3	34	39	172
Hepatitis B (unspecified)†	107	2,506	325	906	286	55	1,850	944	6,979
Hepatitis C (newly acquired)*	14	43	1	NN	62	19	145	123	407
Hepatitis C (unspecified)†,‡	170	3,503	256	2,469	414	210	2,130	1,156	10,308
Hepatitis D	0	9	1	13	4	0	22	4	53
Gastrointestinal diseases
Botulism	0	2	0	0	0	0	2	0	4
Campylobacteriosis	373	NN	199	3,831	1,719	696	5,953	1,927	14,698
Cryptosporidiosis	39	1,107	89	766	135	74	1,264	372	3,846
Haemolytic uraemic syndrome	0	9	1	2	1	0	2	0	15
Hepatitis A	4	62	0	45	11	0	53	14	189
Hepatitis E	1	16	0	2	0	0	8	4	31
Listeriosis	1	29	3	9	2	2	22	8	76
Salmonellosis	279	3,456	385	3,207	982	249	2,954	1,279	12,791
Shigellosis	10	149	108	73	29	3	115	69	556
STEC,VTEC§	3	25	0	83	53	1	11	4	180
Typhoid fever	5	59	0	24	8	0	44	10	150
Quarantinable diseases
Cholera	0	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	3
HPAIH	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Plague	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Rabies	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Severe acute respiratory syndrome	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Smallpox	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Viral haemorrhagic fever	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Yellow fever	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Sexually transmitted infections
Chlamydial infection||,¶	1,269	20,827	2,998	19,497	5,183	1,538	19,467	11,747	82,526
Donovanosis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Gonococcal infection¶	114	4,231	1,955	2,732	855	69	3,014	1,972	14,942
Syphilis – congenital¶	0	3	1	1	0	0	0	2	7
Syphilis < 2 years duration*,¶,**	10	598	22	328	56	19	652	83	1,768
Syphilis > 2 years or unspecified duration†,¶	9	417	94	306	104	11	564	201	1,706
Vaccine preventable diseases
Diptheria	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	2
Haemophilus influenzae type b	0	9	0	7	0	0	4	0	20
Influenza (laboratory confirmed)	570	8,398	481	5,509	4,825	297	5,854	2,395	28,329
Measles	1	34	0	52	16	0	41	14	158
Mumps	1	90	6	41	5	5	24	45	217
Pertussis	228	2,336	108	3,808	811	513	2,898	1,639	12,341
Pneumococcal disease (invasive)	14	467	58	272	112	37	393	193	1,546
Poliomyelitis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Rubella	1	12	0	6	2	0	3	1	25
Rubella – congenital	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	2
Tetanus	0	2	0	0	1	0	0	1	4
Vaccine preventable diseases (cont’d)
Varicella zoster (chickenpox)	20	NN	97	280	386	29	871	359	2,042
Varicella zoster (shingles)	52	NN	246	45	1,899	247	1,223	1,305	5,017
Varicella zoster (unspecified)	138	NN	10	5,337	105	89	3,018	1,230	9,927
Vectorborne diseases
Arbovirus infection (NEC)	0	0	1	20	0	0	0	0	21
Barmah Forest virus infection	6	431	405	2,224	74	3	72	1,024	4,239
Dengue virus infection	10	300	56	489	75	19	414	478	1,841
Japanese encephalitis virus infection	0	0	0	2	1	0	0	1	4
Kunjin virus infection††	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	3
Malaria	13	88	22	108	8	11	88	76	414
Murray Valley encephalitis virus infection	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1
Ross River virus infection	4	503	300	1,787	167	8	171	1,368	4,308
Zoonoses
Anthrax	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Australia bat lyssavirus infection	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1
Brucellosis	0	3	0	11	0	0	0	0	14
Leptospirosis	0	12	4	67	2	0	9	1	95
Lyssavirus infection (NEC)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ornithosis	0	8	0	1	0	0	34	4	47
Q fever	0	167	1	243	17	0	41	8	477
Tularaemia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Other bacterial diseases
Legionellosis	1	105	6	165	63	6	66	93	505
Leprosy	1	2	2	1	1	0	3	3	13
Meningococcal infection‡‡	3	48	2	33	20	3	25	15	149
Tuberculosis	18	440	41	156	69	8	383	150	1,265
Total	3,493	50,540	8,290	55,005	18,573	4,224	53,943	30,361	224,434

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Table 5: Notification rates per 100,000 of nationally notifiable communicable diseases, Australia, 2013, by state or territory

Disease	State or territory								Aust.
	ACT	NSW	NT	Qld	SA	Tas.	Vic.	WA
* Newly acquired hepatitis and syphilis < 2 years duration includes cases where the infection was determined to be acquired within 24 months prior to diagnosis.. † Unspecified hepatitis and syphilis includes cases where the duration of infection could not be determined or is greater than 24 months. ‡ In Queensland, includes newly acquired hepatitis C cases. § Infection with Shiga toxin/verotoxin producing Escherichia coli. || Includes Chlamydia trachomatis identified from cervical, rectal, urine, urethral, throat and eye samples, except for South Australia, which reports only cervical, urine and urethral specimens; the Northern Territory and Western Australia exclude ocular infections. From 1 July 2013 the case definition changed to exclude all ocular infections. ¶ The national case definitions for chlamydial, gonococcal and syphilis diagnoses include infections that may be acquired through a non-sexual mode (especially in children – e.g. perinatal infections, epidemic gonococcal conjunctivitis). ** Data for all states and territories are reported by diagnosis date, except Queensland, which is reported by notification receive date. †† In the Australian Capital Territory, Murray Valley encephalitis virus infection and Kunjin virus infection are combined under Murray Valley encephalitis virus infection. ‡‡ Only invasive meningococcal disease is nationally notifiable. However the Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales also report conjunctival cases. HPAIH Highly pathogenic avian influenza in humans. NEC Not elsewhere classified. NN Not notifiable.
Bloodborne diseases
Hepatitis B (newly acquired)*	1.0	0.4	2.5	1.0	0.5	0.6	0.6	1.5	0.7
Hepatitis B (unspecified)†	28.0	33.8	134.7	19.5	17.1	10.7	32.2	37.5	30.2
Hepatitis C (newly acquired)*	3.7	0.6	0.4	NN	3.7	3.7	2.5	4.9	2.2
Hepatitis C (unspecified)†,‡	44.6	47.3	106.1	53.0	24.8	40.9	37.1	45.9	44.6
Hepatitis D	–	0.1	0.4	0.3	0.2	–	0.4	0.2	0.2
Gastrointestinal diseases
Botulism	–	<0.1	–	–	–	–	<0.1	–	<0.1
Campylobacteriosis	97.8	NN	82.5	82.3	102.9	135.6	103.7	76.5	93.5
Cryptosporidiosis	10.2	14.9	36.9	16.5	8.1	14.4	22.0	14.8	16.6
Haemolytic uraemic syndrome	–	0.1	0.4	<0.1	0.1	–	<0.1	–	0.1
Hepatitis A	1.0	0.8	–	1.0	0.7	–	0.9	0.6	0.8
Hepatitis E	0.3	0.2	–	<0.1	–	–	0.1	0.2	0.1
Listeriosis	0.3	0.4	1.2	0.2	0.1	0.4	0.4	0.3	0.3
Salmonellosis	73.1	46.6	159.6	68.9	58.8	48.5	51.5	50.7	55.3
Shigellosis	2.6	2.0	44.8	1.6	1.7	0.6	2.0	2.7	2.4
STEC,VTEC§	0.8	0.3	–	1.8	3.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.8
Typhoid fever	1.3	0.8	–	0.5	0.5	–	0.8	0.4	0.6
Quarantinable diseases
Cholera	–	<0.1	–	–	–	–	<0.1	–	<0.1
HPAIH	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Plague	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Rabies	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Severe acute respiratory syndrome	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Smallpox	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Viral haemorrhagic fever	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Yellow fever	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Sexually transmissible infections
Chlamydial infection||,¶	332.7	281.1	1243.0	418.8	310.2	299.7	339.2	466.0	356.7
Donovanosis	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Gonococcal infection¶	29.9	57.1	810.5	58.7	51.2	13.4	52.5	78.2	64.6
Syphilis – congenital¶	–	<0.1	0.4	<0.1	–	–	–	0.1	<0.1
Syphilis < 2 years duration*,¶,**	2.6	8.1	9.1	7.0	3.4	3.7	11.4	3.3	7.6
Syphilis > 2 years or unspecified duration†,¶	2.4	5.6	39.0	6.6	6.2	2.1	9.8	8.0	7.4
Vaccine preventable diseases
Diptheria	–	–	–	<0.1	0.1	–	–	–	<0.1
Haemophilus influenzae type b	–	0.1	–	0.2	–	–	0.1	–	0.1
Influenza (laboratory confirmed)	149.4	113.3	199.4	118.3	288.8	57.9	102.0	95.0	122.5
Measles	0.3	0.5	–	1.1	1.0	–	0.7	0.6	0.7
Mumps	0.3	1.2	2.5	0.9	0.3	1.0	0.4	1.8	0.9
Pertussis	59.8	31.5	44.8	81.8	48.5	100.0	50.5	65.0	53.3
Pneumococcal disease (invasive)	3.7	6.3	24.0	5.8	6.7	7.2	6.8	7.7	6.7
Poliomyelitis	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Rubella	0.3	0.2	–	0.1	0.1	–	0.1	<0.1	0.11
Rubella – congenital	–	–	–	–	0.1	–	<0.1	–	<0.1
Tetanus	–	<0.1	–	–	0.1	–	–	<0.1	<0.1
Varicella zoster (chickenpox)	5.2	NN	40.2	6.0	23.1	5.7	15.2	14.2	13.0
Varicella zoster (shingles)	13.6	NN	102.0	1.0	113.7	48.1	21.3	51.8	31.9
Varicella zoster (unspecified)	36.2	NN	4.1	114.7	6.3	17.3	52.6	48.8	63.1
Vectorborne diseases
Arbovirus infection (NEC)	–	–	0.4	0.4	–	–	–	–	0.1
Barmah Forest virus infection	1.6	5.8	167.9	47.8	4.4	0.6	1.3	40.6	18.3
Dengue virus infection	2.6	4.0	23.2	10.5	4.5	3.7	7.2	19.0	8.0
Japanese encephalitis virus infection	–	–	–	<0.1	0.1	–	–	<0.1	<0.1
Kunjin virus infection††	–	–	–	0.1	–	–	–	–	<0.1
Malaria	3.4	1.2	9.1	2.3	0.5	2.1	1.5	3.0	1.8
Murray Valley encephalitis virus infection	–	–	–	<0.1	–	–	–	–	<0.1
Ross River virus infection	1.0	6.8	124.4	38.4	10.0	1.6	3.0	54.3	18.6
Zoonoses
Anthrax	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Australia bat lyssavirus infection	–	–	–	<0.1	–	–	–	–	<0.1
Brucellosis	–	<0.1	–	0.2	–	–	–	–	0.1
Leptospirosis	–	0.2	1.7	1.4	0.1	–	0.2	<0.1	0.4
Lyssavirus infection (NEC)	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Ornithosis	–	0.1	–	<0.1	–	–	0.6	0.2	0.2
Q fever	–	2.3	0.4	5.2	1.0	–	0.7	0.3	2.1
Tularaemia	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Other bacterial diseases
Legionellosis	0.3	1.4	2.5	3.5	3.8	1.2	1.2	3.7	2.2
Leprosy	0.3	<0.1	0.8	<0.1	0.1	–	0.1	0.1	0.1
Meningococcal infection‡‡	0.8	0.6	0.8	0.7	1.2	0.6	0.4	0.6	0.6
Tuberculosis	4.7	5.9	17.0	3.4	4.1	1.6	6.7	6.0	5.5

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Table 6: Notified cases and notification rate for communicable diseases, Australia, 2008 to 2013

Disease	Number of notified cases						5-year mean	Ratio (2013: 5-year mean)	Notification rate per 100,000
	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013			2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
* Newly acquired hepatitis and syphilis < 2 years duration includes cases where the infection was determined to be acquired within 24 months prior to diagnosis. † Unspecified hepatitis and syphilis includes cases where the duration of infection could not be determined or is greater than 24 months. ‡ In Queensland, includes newly acquired hepatitis C cases. § Infection with Shiga toxin/verotoxin producing Escherichia coli. || Includes Chlamydia trachomatis identified from cervical, rectal, urine, urethral, throat and eye samples, except for South Australia, which reports only cervical, urine and urethral specimens; the Northern Territory and Western Australia exclude ocular infections. From 1 July 2013 case definition changed to exclude all ocular infections. ¶ The national case definitions for chlamydial, gonococcal and syphilis diagnoses include infections that may be acquired through a non–sexual mode (especially in children – e.g. perinatal infections, epidemic gonococcal conjunctivitis). ** Data for all states and territories are reported by diagnosis date, except Queensland which is reported by notification receive date. †† In the Australian Capital Territory, Murray Valley encephalitis virus infection and Kunjin virus infection are combined under Murray Valley encephalitis virus infection. ‡‡ Only invasive meningococcal disease is nationally notifiable. However the Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales also report conjunctival cases. HPAIH Highly pathogenic avian influenza in humans. NEC Not elsewhere classified. NN Not notifiable.
Bloodborne diseases
Hepatitis B (newly acquired)*	261	253	230	193	198	172	227.0	0.8	1.2	1.2	1.0	0.9	0.9	0.7
Hepatitis B (unspecified)†	6,377	7,127	6,957	6,559	6,538	6,979	6,711.6	1.0	29.7	32.9	31.6	29.4	28.8	30.2
Hepatitis C (newly acquired)*	364	399	400	412	486	407	412.2	1.0	2.1	2.3	2.3	2.3	2.7	2.2
Hepatitis C (unspecified)†,‡	10,801	11,104	11,086	9,882	9,641	10,308	10,502.8	1.0	50.2	51.2	50.3	44.2	42.4	44.6
Hepatitis D	41	35	36	39	31	53	36.4	1.5	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.1	0.2
Gastrointestinal diseases
Botulism	0	1	0	2	0	4	0.6	6.7	–	<0.1	–	<0.1	–	<0.1
Campylobacteriosis	15,561	16,104	16,990	17,725	15,655	14,698	16,407.0	0.9	107.4	110.0	114.1	117.2	101.5	93.5
Cryptosporidiosis	2,001	4,624	1,481	1,811	3,142	3,846	2,611.8	1.5	9.3	21.3	6.7	8.1	13.8	16.6
Haemolytic uraemic syndrome	32	13	9	13	20	15	17.4	0.9	0.1	0.1	<0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1
Hepatitis A	276	563	267	145	166	189	283.4	0.7	1.3	2.6	1.2	0.6	0.7	0.8
Hepatitis E	44	33	37	41	35	31	38.0	0.8	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.1
Listeriosis	68	92	71	70	93	76	78.8	1.0	0.3	0.4	0.3	0.3	0.4	0.3
Salmonellosis	8,297	9,503	11,912	12,276	11,256	12,791	10,648.8	1.2	38.6	43.8	54.1	55.0	49.5	55.3
Shigellosis	830	616	552	493	548	556	607.8	0.9	3.9	2.8	2.5	2.2	2.4	2.4
STEC,VTEC§	98	128	80	95	111	180	102.4	1.8	0.5	0.6	0.4	0.4	0.5	0.8
Typhoid fever	106	115	96	135	124	150	115.2	1.3	0.5	0.5	0.4	0.6	0.5	0.6
Quarantinable diseases
Cholera	4	5	3	6	5	3	4.6	0.7	<0.1	<0.1	<0.1	<0.1	<0.1	<0.1
HPAIH	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Plague	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Rabies	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Severe acute respiratory syndrome	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Smallpox	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Viral haemorrhagic fever	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Yellow fever	0	0	0	2	0	0	0.4	–	–	–	–	<0.1	–	–
Sexually transmissible infections
Chlamydial infection||,¶	58,456	63,013	74,320	80,918	82,903	82,526	71,922.0	1.1	271.9	290.5	337.3	362.2	364.8	356.7
Donovanosis	2	1	1	0	1	0	1.0	–	<0.1	<0.1	<0.1	–	<0.1	–
Gonococcal infection¶	7,678	8,279	10,324	12,100	13,842	14,942	10,444.6	1.4	35.7	38.2	46.9	54.2	60.9	64.6
Syphilis – congenital¶	6	3	3	7	1	7	4.0	1.8	<0.1	<0.1	<0.1	<0.1	<0.1	<0.1
Syphilis < 2 years duration*,¶,**	1,323	1,314	1,118	1,318	1,570	1,768	1,328.6	1.3	6.2	6.1	5.1	5.9	6.9	7.6
Syphilis > 2 years or unspecified duration†,¶	1,359	1,445	1,329	1,315	1,381	1,706	1,365.8	1.2	6.8	7.2	6.5	6.4	6.1	7.4
Vaccine preventable diseases
Diptheria	0	0	0	4	0	2	0.8	2.5	–	–	–	<0.1	–	<0.1
Haemophilus influenzae type b	25	19	24	13	15	20	19.2	1.0	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1
Influenza (laboratory confirmed)	9,173	59,028	13,466	27,228	44,571	28,329	30,693.2	0.9	42.7	272.1	61.1	121.9	196.1	122.5
Measles	65	104	70	194	199	158	126.4	1.3	0.3	0.5	0.3	0.9	0.9	0.7
Mumps	286	166	98	155	200	217	181.0	1.2	1.3	0.8	0.4	0.7	0.9	0.9
Pertussis	14,286	30,163	34,821	38,727	24,074	12,341	28,414.2	0.4	66.5	139.1	158.0	173.4	105.9	53.3
Pneumococcal disease (invasive)	1,626	1,557	1,640	1,883	1,823	1,546	1,705.8	0.9	7.6	7.2	7.4	8.4	8.0	6.7
Poliomyelitis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Rubella	36	27	44	58	37	25	40.4	0.6	0.2	0.1	0.2	0.3	0.2	0.1
Rubella – congenital	0	0	0	0	1	2	0.2	10.0	–	–	–	–	<0.1	<0.1
Tetanus	4	3	2	3	7	4	3.8	1.1	<0.1	<0.1	<0.1	<0.1	<0.1	<0.1
Varicella zoster (chickenpox)	1,807	1,796	1,792	2,100	1,977	2,042	1,894.4	1.1	19.7	12.3	12.0	13.9	12.8	13.0
Varicella zoster (shingles)	2,341	2,779	3,047	4,025	4,507	5,017	3,339.8	1.5	25.6	19.0	20.5	26.6	29.2	31.9
Varicella zoster (unspecified)	4,410	6,761	7,269	7,689	8,437	9,927	6,913.2	1.4	48.2	46.2	48.8	50.8	54.7	63.1
Vectorborne diseases
Arbovirus infection (NEC)	12	6	14	18	9	21	11.8	1.8	0.1	<0.1	0.1	0.1	<0.1	0.1
Barmah Forest virus infection	2,080	1,473	1,470	1,863	1,730	4,239	1,723.2	2.5	9.7	6.8	6.7	8.3	7.6	18.3
Dengue virus infection	561	1,402	1,228	821	1,540	1,841	1,110.4	1.7	2.6	6.5	5.6	3.7	6.8	8.0
Japanese encephalitis virus infection	1	0	0	0	1	4	0.4	10.0	<0.1	–	–	–	<0.1	<0.1
Kunjin virus infection††	1	2	2	2	0	3	1.4	2.1	<0.1	<0.1	<0.1	<0.1	–	<0.1
Malaria	529	504	404	418	345	414	440.0	0.9	2.5	2.3	1.8	1.9	1.5	1.8
Murray Valley encephalitis virus infection††	2	4	0	16	1	1	4.6	0.2	<0.1	<0.1	–	0.1	<0.1	<0.1
Ross River virus infection	5,612	4,742	5,129	5,136	4,686	4,308	5,061.0	0.9	26.1	21.9	23.3	23.0	20.6	18.6
Zoonoses
Anthrax	0	0	1	0	0	0	0.2	–	–	–	<0.1	–	–	–
Australia bat lyssavirus infection	0	0	0	0	0	1	0.0	–	–	–	–	–	–	<0.1
Brucellosis	46	32	21	38	30	14	33.4	0.4	0.2	0.1	0.1	0.2	0.1	0.1
Leptospirosis	111	141	131	215	115	95	142.6	0.7	0.5	0.7	0.6	1.0	0.5	0.4
Lyssavirus infection (NEC)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Ornithosis	102	65	61	91	76	47	79.0	0.6	0.5	0.3	0.3	0.4	0.3	0.2
Q fever	378	313	336	350	362	477	347.8	1.4	1.8	1.4	1.5	1.6	1.6	2.1
Tularaemia	0	0	0	2	0	0	0.4	–	–	–	–	<0.1	–	–
Other bacterial diseases
Legionellosis	272	301	306	360	383	505	324.4	1.6	1.3	1.4	1.4	1.6	1.7	2.2
Leprosy	11	5	10	10	7	13	8.6	1.5	0.1	<0.1	<0.1	<0.1	<0.1	0.1
Meningococcal infection‡‡	287	260	228	242	222	149	247.8	0.6	1.3	1.2	1.0	1.1	1.0	0.6
Tuberculosis	1,217	1,306	1,367	1,384	1,323	1,265	1,319.4	1.0	5.7	6.0	6.2	6.2	5.8	5.5
Total	159,271	237,729	210,283	238,606	244,424	224,434

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Data completeness

In 2013, sex and age at onset was complete for 99.8% of notifications in NNDSS (Table 7).

Table 7: Completeness of National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System data, Australia, 2013, by state or territory

	State or territory
	ACT	NSW	NT	Qld	SA	Tas.	Vic.	WA	Aust.
* For many diseases onset date in unknown, but is calculated using the diagnosis date derived by the diagnosis date algorithm.
Total notifications	3,493	50,541	8,290	55,009	18,573	4,224	53,943	30,361	224,434
Sex
Unknown/ missing	0	59	0	0	76	0	169	1	305
Per cent complete	100.0	99.8	100.0	100.0	99.0	100.0	99.7	>99.9	99.8
Age at onset*
Unknown/ missing	0	20	0	0	76	0	182	1	279
Per cent complete	100.0	>99.9	100.0	100.0	99.0	100.0	99.7	>99.9	99.8

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Indigenous status

Indigenous status is usually obtained from medical notification and completeness varies by disease and by state and territory. This reflects differences in notification requirements (i.e. depending on the jurisdiction, some diseases are primarily or completely notified by pathology laboratories rather than clinicians) and the fact that it is not possible to follow up all cases for diseases with a large volume of notifications and/or not requiring specific case based public health action.

Indigenous status was complete in 47.6% of all notifications reported to NNDSS in 2013. Indigenous status was complete in 94.6% of data reported in the Northern Territory, 92% in Western Australia and 90.7% in South Australia. In the remaining jurisdictions, Indigenous status completeness ranged from 18.2% to 47.3% (Table 8).

Table 8: Indigenous status completeness of National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System data, Australia, 2013, by state or territory

	State or territory
	ACT	NSW	NT	Qld	SA	Tas.	Vic.	WA	Aust.
Total notifications	3,493	50,541	8,290	55,009	18,573	4,224	53,943	30,361	224,434
Indigenous status
Unknown/ missing	2,507	41,325	446	29,741	1,720	2,227	37,139	2,442	117,547
Per cent complete	28.2	18.2	94.6	45.9	90.7	47.3	31.2	92.0	47.6

Data completeness on Indigenous status also varied by disease as summarised in Appendix 3. In 2013, CDNA set target thresholds of 95% completeness for 18 priority diseases (17 notifiable to NNDSS and one, HIV, which is notified to the Kirby Institute) (Table 9) and 80% completeness for the remainder of the notifiable diseases. Of all diseases there were 33 diseases that equalled or exceeded 80% completeness for Indigenous status and 33% (11/33) were priority diseases.

Table 9: Percentage completeness of priority diseases for Indigenous status of National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System data, Australia, 2013, by state or territory

Priority disease	ACT	NSW	NT	Qld	SA	Tas.	Vic.	WA	Aust.
NDP – No data provided
Dengue virus (locally acquired)	No cases	100.0	No cases	91.4	100.0	No cases	100.0	50.0	91.5
Donovanosis	No cases	No cases	No cases	No cases	No cases	No cases	No cases	No cases	No cases
Gonococcal infection	100.0	56.0	98.1	62.0	90.9	95.7	61.0	99.9	71.9
Haemophilus influenzae type b	No cases	100.0	No cases	85.7	No cases	No cases	75.0	No cases	90.0
Leprosy	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	No cases	100.0	100.0	100.0
Measles	100.0	100.0	No cases	76.9	100.0	No cases	92.7	100.0	90.5
Meningococcal disease (invasive)	100.0	100.0	100.0	97.0	100.0	100.0	84.0	100.0	96.6
Pertussis <5 years	87.5	94.6	100.0	67.2	100.0	100.0	78.8	98.7	85.6
Shigellosis	100.0	85.9	99.1	76.7	100.0	33.3	91.3	98.6	90.6
Tuberculosis	94.4	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	99.9
Hepatitis A	100.0	100.0	No cases	82.2	100.0	No cases	98.1	100.0	95.2
Hepatitis B (newly acquired)	100.0	81.8	100.0	55.6	87.5	100.0	94.1	100.0	83.1
Hepatitis C (newly acquired)	100.0	81.4	100.0	No cases	95.2	89.5	66.2	100.0	84.8
Syphilis – congenital	No cases	100.0	100.0	100.0	No cases	No cases	No cases	100.0	100.0
HIV	NDP	NDP	NDP	NDP	NDP	NDP	NDP	NDP	NDP
Pneumococcal disease <5 years	100.0	100.0	100.0	97.7	85.7	100.0	89.7	100.0	96.8
Pneumococcal disease ≥ 50 years	100.0	99.7	100.0	88.8	97.0	100.0	89.7	100.0	95.1
Syphilis < 2 years	100.0	92.5	100.0	94.5	80.4	100.0	85.9	100.0	90.6

In 2013, 7 of the 17 priority diseases notified to NNDSS had an Indigenous completeness that exceeded 95% (hepatitis A, meningococcal infection, pneumococcal disease < 5 years, pneumococcal disease ≥ 50 years, syphilis – congenital, leprosy, and tuberculosis).

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