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There were 6,054 notifications to the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS) for this four week period, 29 April to 26 May 1998 (Tables 1, 2 and 3). The numbers of reports for selected diseases have been compared with historical data for corresponding periods in the previous three years (Figure 8).

There were 1,294 reports received by the Virology and Serology Laboratory Reporting Scheme (LabVISE) this four week period, 23 April to 20 May 1998 (Tables 4 and 5).

The Australian Sentinel Practice Research Network (ASPREN) data for weeks 17 to 20 ending 24 May 1998 are included in this issue of CDI (Table 6).

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Table 1. Notifications of other diseases received by State and Territory health authorities in the period 29 April to 26 May 1998

Disease1,2	ACT	NSW	NT	Qld	SA	Tas	Vic	WA	This period 1998	This period 1997	Year to date 1998	Year to date 1997
Arbovirus infection (NEC)3	0	1	4	7	0	0	2	0	14	10	52	88
Barmah Forest virus infection	0	2	0	70	0	0	0	2	74	94	309	420
Campylobacteriosis4	26	-	16	277	121	16	1	100	557	880	3,279	4,697
Chlamydial infection (NEC)5	34	NN	41	429	0	18	7	179	708	656	3,674	3,336
Dengue	0	1	1	38	0	2	0	2	44	11	270	188
Donovanosis	0	NN	2	0	NN	0	0	0	2	3	16	13
Gonococcal infection6	4	71	88	125	0	2	29	95	414	394	2,074	1,640
Hepatitis A	7	75	7	177	7	0	11	12	296	190	1,295	1,524
Hepatitis B incident	0	0	3	5	0	0	0	0	8	23	64	100
Hepatitis C incident7	1	1	0	-	0	0	-	-	2	2	20	6
Hepatitis C unspecified	26	NN	15	308	NN	30	0	82	461	1,109	2,254	3,889
Hepatitis (NEC)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	NN	0	1	7	11
Legionellosis	0	1	0	14	5	0	3	0	23	16	103	72
Leptospirosis	0	2	0	23	1	0	0	2	28	8	73	50
Listeriosis	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	3	4	25	42
Malaria	4	6	0	0	0	0	5	5	20	118	211	352
Meningococcal infection	1	9	0	5	0	0	2	3	20	25	93	129
Ornithosis	0	NN	0	0	0	0	4	0	4	10	13	32
Q fever	0	7	0	28	5	0	4	0	44	70	206	242
Ross River virus infection	1	13	4	451	3	3	1	14	490	1,217	2,056	5,430
Salmonellosis (NEC)	4	57	29	330	60	10	38	48	576	494	3,585	3,841
Shigellosis4	0	-	5	32	3	0	5	14	59	58	300	393
Syphilis8	0	28	24	48	0	0	0	2	102	92	495	510
Tuberculosis	3	15	0	19	1	0	8	2	48	86	333	428
Typhoid9	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	3	5	39	41
Yersiniosis (NEC)4	0	-	0	17	4	1	2	0	24	18	125	132

1. For HIV and AIDS, see Tables 7 and 8. For rarely notified diseases, see Table 3.
2. Totals comprise data from all States and Territories. Cumulative figures are subject to retrospective revision so there may be discrepancies between the number of new notifications and the increment in the cumulative figure from the previous period.
3. NT: includes Barmah Forest virus.
4. Not reported for NSW because it is only notifiable as 'foodborne disease' or 'gastroenteritis in an institution'.
5. WA: genital only.
6. NT, Qld, SA and Vic: includes gonococcal neonatal ophthalmia.
7. Qld, Vic and WA incident cases of Hepatitis C are not separately reported.
8. Includes congenital syphilis
9. NSW, Qld, Vic: includes paratyphoid.
NN Not Notifiable.
NEC Not Elsewhere Classified
- Elsewhere Classified.

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Table 2. Notifications of diseases preventable by vaccines recommended by the NHMRC for routine childhood immunisation, received by State and Territory health authorities in the period 29 April to 26 May 1998

Disease1,2	ACT	NSW	NT	Qld	SA	Tas	Vic	WA	This period 1998	This period 1997	Year to date 1998	Year to date 1997
Diphtheria	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
H. influenzae type b infection	0	2	0	2	0	0	2	0	6	5	14	20
Measles	6	4	0	4	0	4	6	3	27	38	190	183
Mumps	1	1	0	2	0	0	2	0	6	22	68	85
Pertussis	6	63	0	111	41	3	36	19	279	389	2,728	3,078
Rubella3	2	3	0	47	1	2	9	8	72	93	292	633
Tetanus	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	4

NN Not Notifiable.
1. No notifications of poliomyelitis have been reported since 1986.
2. Totals comprise data from all States and Territories. Cumulative figures are subject to retrospective revision, so there may be discrepancies between the number of new notifications and the increment in the cumulative figure from the previous period.
3. Includes congenital rubella.

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Table 3. Notifications of rare¹ diseases received by State and Territory health authorities in the period 29 April to 26 May 1998

Disease2	Total this period	Reporting States or Territories	Total notifications 1998
Brucellosis	4	ACT, Qld	19
Cholera			2
Hydatid Infection	4	Qld, Vic, WA	15
Leprosy	1	NSW	2

1. Fewer than 60 cases of each of these diseases were notified each year during the period 1988 to 1998.
2. No notifications have been received during 1998 for the following rare diseases: botulism, lymphogranuloma venereum, plague, rabies, yellow fever, or other viral haemorrhagic fevers.

Please note: For the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (Tables 1, 2 and 3, and Figure 8):

• sexually transmissible diseases notifications for 1997 and 1998 from South Australia are not available; and
• notifications for the period 13 to 26 May 1998 from Victoria are not available.

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Figure 8. Selected National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System reports, and historical data¹

1. The historical data are the averages of the number of notifications in the corresponding 4 week periods of the last 3 years and the 2 week periods immediately preceding and following those.

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Table 4. Virology and serology laboratory reports by State or Territory¹ for the reporting period 23 April to 20 May 1998, and total reports for the year

	State or Territory1								Total this period	Total reported in CDI in 1998
	ACT	NSW	NT	Qld	SA	Tas	Vic	WA
Measles, mumps, rubella
Measles virus					1			1	2	35
Mumps virus								3	3	13
Rubella virus				5				2	7	61
Hepatitis viruses
Hepatitis A virus	1	2	2	17	9			6	37	210
Hepatitis D virus					1				1	3
Hepatitis E virus								1	1	2
Arboviruses
Ross River virus			3	24	2			9	38	508
Barmah Forest virus			3					3	6	21
Dengue not typed			1					5	6	19
Kunjin virus								1	1	3
Flavivirus (unspecified)				3					3	37
Adenoviruses
Adenovirus type 1					3		1		4	9
Adenovirus type 2					3				3	11
Adenovirus type 3					4		1		5	17
Adenovirus type 7					4				4	11
Adenovirus type 37							1		1	1
Adenovirus not typed/pending		16			54			4	74	308
Herpes viruses
Cytomegalovirus		2		8	7	2	3	8	30	355
Varicella-zoster virus		10		17	30	2	18	30	107	573
Epstein-Barr virus		5	1	10	78	2	9	26	131	772
Other DNA viruses
Parvovirus					4			4	8	67
Picornavirus family
Coxsackievirus B6					1				1	1
Echovirus type 11		6							6	16
Echovirus type 18		5							5	5
Rhinovirus (all types)	1	8			9		2	11	31	188
Enterovirus not typed/pending		9		5			1	27	42	197
Ortho/paramyxoviruses
Influenza A virus		29		1	45			9	84	230
Influenza B virus					18			3	21	75
Parainfluenza virus type 1	1	5			16		1	3	26	150
Parainfluenza virus type 2		1			5				6	20
Parainfluenza virus type 3		2			1			12	15	189
Parainfluenza virus typing pending						1			1	2
Respiratory syncytial virus		15		7	22	1	2	5	52	316
Other RNA viruses
Rotavirus		3		1	9	2		10	25	150
Other
Chlamydia trachomatis not typed	20	35	52	37	74	10		129	357	1,756
Chlamydia species		6							6	23
Mycoplasma pneumoniae		7		16	29		3	2	57	639
Coxiella burnetii (Q fever)		2		7	2			2	13	52
Rickettsia spp - other								4	4	6
Salmonella species								1	1	6
Bordetella pertussis	1			9			17	32	59	648
Legionella pneumophila					1				1	4
Legionella longbeachae					3				3	19
Cryptococcus species	2								2	11
Leptospira hardjo								1	1	2
Total	26	168	62	167	435	20	60	356	1,294	7,758

1. State or Territory of postcode, if reported, otherwise State or Territory of reporting laboratory.

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Table 5. Virology and serology laboratory reports by contributing laboratories for the reporting period 23 April to 20 May 1998

State or Territory	Laboratory	Reports
Australian Capital Territory	Woden Valley Hospital, Canberra	30
New South Wales	Institute of Clinical Pathology and Medical Research, Westmead	102
	New Children's Hospital, Westmead	18
	Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Camperdown	38
Queensland	Queensland Medical Laboratory, West End	175
South Australia	Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science, Adelaide	435
Tasmania	Northern Tasmanian Pathology Service, Launceston	4
	Royal Hobart Hospital, Hobart	17
Victoria	Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne	30
	Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory, Fairfield	28
Western Australia	PathCentre Virology, Perth	321
	Western Diagnostic Pathology	96
Total		1,294

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Table 6. Australian Sentinel Practice Research Network reports, weeks 17 to 20, 1998

Week number	17		18			19			20
Week ending on	3 May 1998		10 May 1998			17 May 1998			24 May 1998
Doctors reporting	45		50			46			51
Total encounters	6,061		6,535			6,650			6,861
Condition	Reports	Rate per 1,000 encounters	Reports		Rate per 1,000 encounters	Reports		Rate per 1,000 encounters	Reports	Rate per 1,000 encounters
Influenza	30	4.9	19		2.9	55		8.3	43	6.3
Rubella	1	0.2	1		0.2	1		0.2	2	0.3
Measles	0	0.0	0		0.0	1		0.2	0	0.0
Chickenpox	7	1.2	11		1.7	12		1.8	9	1.3
Pertussis	0	0.0	0		0.0	3		0.5	0	0.0
HIV testing (patient initiated)	5	0.8	16		2.4	13		2.0	10	1.5
HIV testing (doctor initiated)	2	0.3	4		0.6	4		0.6	0	0.0
Td (ADT) vaccine	43	7.1	41		6.3	36		5.4	33	4.8
Pertussis vaccination	28	4.6	40		6.1	36		5.4	30	4.4
Reaction to pertussis vaccine	4	0.7	3		0.5	1		0.2	0	0.0
Ross River virus infection	0	0.0	0		0.0	2		0.3	1	0.1
Gastroenteritis	60	9.9	86		13.2	73		11.0	91	13.3

NNDSS is conducted under the auspices of the Communicable Diseases Network Australia New Zealand. The system coordinates the national surveillance of more than 40 communicable diseases or disease groups endorsed by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). Notifications of these diseases are made to State and Territory health authorities under the provisions of their respective public health legislations. De-identified core unit data are supplied fortnightly for collation, analysis and dissemination. For further information, see Commun Dis Intell 1998;22:4-5.

LabVISE is a sentinel reporting scheme. Twenty-one laboratories contribute data on the laboratory identification of viruses and other organisms. Data are collated and published in Communicable Diseases Intelligence every four weeks. These data should be interpreted with caution as the number and type of reports received is subject to a number of biases. For further information, see Commun Dis Intell 1998;22:8.

ASPREN currently comprises about 100 general practitioners from throughout the country. Up to 9,000 consultations are reported each week, with special attention to 12 conditions chosen for sentinel surveillance. CDI reports the consultation rates for all of these. For further information, including case definitions, see Commun Dis Intell 1998;22:5-6.


These tables were published in Communicable Diseases Intelligence Vol 22 No 6, 11 June 1998.