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There were 5,736 notifications to the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS) for the four week period, 27 May to 23 June 1998 (Tables 1 and 2). The numbers of reports for selected diseases have been compared with historical data for corresponding periods in the previous three years (Figure 5).

There were 1,565 reports received by the Virology and Serology Laboratory Reporting Scheme (LabVISE) the four week period, 21 May to 17 June 1998 (Tables 3 and 4).

The Australian Sentinel Practice Research Network (ASPREN) data for weeks 21 to 24 ending 21 June 1998 are included in this issue of CDI (Table 5).

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Table 1. Notifications of diseases preventable by vaccines recommended by the NHMRC for routine childhood immunisation, received by State and Territory health authorities in the period 27 May to 23 June 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	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	3	3	16	23
Measles	4	4	0	1	0	0	7	7	23	62	223	243
Mumps	0	1	1	1	0	0	2	2	7	15	80	99
Pertussis	3	66	1	72	14	5	41	12	214	490	3,158	3,548
Rubella3	4	2	1	32	0	0	12	5	56	86	359	711
Tetanus	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	2	2	6

NN. Not Notifiable
1. No notification of poliomyelitis has been received 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.
* Data from NSW are incomplete for this reporting period, as one Public Health Unit was unable to provide data

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Table 2. Notifications of diseases received by State and Territory health authorities in the period 27 May to 23 June 1998 (diseases preventable by routine childhood immunisation are presented in Table 1)

Disease1,2,3	ACT	NSW*	NT	Qld	SA	Tas	Vic	WA	This period 1998	This period 1997	Year to date 19984,*	Year to date 1997
Arbovirus infection (NEC)5	0	0	1	4	0	0	2	0	7	12	65	99
Barmah Forest virus infection	0	2	0	22	0	0	0	1	25	49	336	465
Brucellosis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	19	16
Campylobacteriosis4,6	18	-	15	300	62	16	20	99	530	920	3,817	5,560
Chancroid	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
Chlamydial infection (NEC)7	23	NN	40	307	42	16	104	175	707	756	5,077	4,557
Cholera	0	0	00	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	1
Dengue	0	3	0	9	0	0	0	0	12	2	288	190
Donovanosis	0	NN	3	1	NN	0	0	0	4	4	20	16
Gonococcal infection8	4	34	63	81	11	0	31	83	307	434	2,531	2,235
Hepatitis A	7	42	3	79	4	0	5	7	147	249	1,495	1,766
Hepatitis B incident4	0	0	0	3	0	0	7	0	10	16	87	125
Hepatitis C incident9	0	0	0	-	0	4	-	-	4	10	48	37
Hepatitis C unspecified4	24	NN	20	228	NN	26	8	97	403	787	2,684	4,647
Hepatitis (NEC)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	NN	0	2	4	13
Hydatid infection	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	17	19
Legionellosis	0	3	0	2	0	1	1	4	11	19	121	90
Leprosy	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	7
Leptospirosis	0	0	0	6	0	0	0	1	7	17	81	66
Listeriosis	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	3	3	28	45
Malaria	2	3	5	130	1	0	1	1	143	59	365	408
Meningococcal infection	0	7	2	8	1	2	7	5	32	36	133	165
Ornithosis	0	NN	0	0	0	0	3	0	3	2	18	34
Q fever	0	7	0	20	0	0	3	0	30	56	246	297
Ross River virus infection	1	10	6	124	0	0	0	2	143	569	2,203	5,968
Salmonellosis (NEC)	7	28	34	170	31	7	73	46	396	395	4,138	4,225
Shigellosis6	0	-	6	10	2	0	5	8	31	69	336	461
Syphilis10	2	22	16	19	0	1	0	3	63	106	587	632
Tuberculosis	2	11	2	13	0	1	8	1	38	78	391	503
Typhoid11	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	6	41	47
Yersiniosis (NEC)6	0	-	0	14	1	0	4	0	19	16	144	148

1. For HIV and AIDS, see Tables 7 and 8.
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. No notifications have been received during 1998 for the following rare diseases: botulism (foodborne), lymphogranuloma venereum, plague, rabies, yellow fever, or other viral haemorrhagic fevers.
4. Data from Victoria for 1998 are incomplete.
5. NT: includes Barmah Forest virus.
6. Not reported for NSW because it is only notifiable as 'foodborne disease' or 'gastroenteritis in an institution'.
7. WA: genital only
8. NT, Qld, SA and Vic: includes gonococcal neonatal ophthalmia.
9. Qld, Vic and WA incident cases of Hepatitis C are not separately reported.
10. Includes congenital syphilis
11. NSW, Qld, Vic: includes paratyphoid.
NN Not Notifiable.
NEC Not Elsewhere Classified
- Elsewhere Classified.
* Data from NSW are incomplete for this reporting period, as one Public Health Unit was unable to provide data

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Figure 5. 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.
2. Data from Victoria for 1998 are incomplete.
* Data from NSW are incomplete for this reporting period, as one Public Health Unit was unable to provide data.

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Table 3. Virology and serology laboratory reports by State or Territory¹ for the reporting period 21 May to 17 June 1998, and total reports for the year

	State or Territory1								Total reported
	ACT	NSW	NT	Qld	SA	Tas	Vic	WA	Total this period	In CDI in 1998
Measles, mumps, rubella
Measles virus					1				1	36
Mumps virus		1						3	4	17
Rubella virus							1		1	62
Hepatitis viruses
Hepatitis A virus		3	2		5		1	11	22	232
Arboviruses
Ross River virus			1		2			10	13	521
Dengue not typed							1		1	20
Kunjin virus								1	1	4
Flavivirus (unspecified)							5		5	42
Adenoviruses
Adenovirus type 1					4				4	13
Adenovirus type 3					3				3	20
Adenovirus type 6					4				4	5
Adenovirus type 7					2				2	13
Adenovirus type 40								1	1	4
Adenovirus not typed/pending		11			33			3	47	355
Herpes viruses
Cytomegalovirus		5			8	1	6	8	29	384
Varicella-zoster virus		11			16	1	9	24	61	634
Epstein-Barr virus	1	18	5		53		10	31	118	890
Other DNA viruses
Parvovirus					8		10	2	20	87
Picornavirus family
Echovirus type 4		1							1	2
Echovirus type 11		7							7	23
Echovirus type 17		1							1	1
Echovirus type 22		2					1		3	5
Poliovirus type 2 (uncharacterised)		1							1	2
Rhinovirus (all types)		13			1			14	30	218
Enterovirus not typed/pending		10				1		31	42	239
Ortho/paramyxoviruses
Influenza A virus		96			105		2	75	278	508
Influenza B virus		2			12				14	89
Parainfluenza virus type 1		8			20			17	45	195
Parainfluenza virus type 2					1			2	3	23
Parainfluenza virus type 3								6	6	195
Parainfluenza virus typing pending						2			2	4
Respiratory syncytial virus		116			26			54	197	513
Other RNA viruses
Rotavirus		6		2	9	5		60	82	232
Astrovirus							1		1	9
Norwalk agent							4		4	25
Other
Chlamydia trachomatis not typed		18	125		50	6		160	359	2,115
Chlamydia psittaci							5		5	23
Chlamydia species		9							9	32
Mycoplasma pneumoniae		11	1		26		43	4	85	724
Coxiella burnetii (Q fever)					2		3	2	7	59
Bordetella pertussis							26	13	39	687
Legionella pneumophila					1				1	5
Legionella longbeachae					2			4	6	25
Total	1	350	134	2	394	16	128	536	1,565	9,292

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

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Table 4. Virology and serology laboratory reports by contributing laboratories for the reporting period 21 May to 17 June 1998

State or Territory	Laboratory	Reports
New South Wales	Institute of Clinical Pathology and Medical Research, Westmead	176
	New Children's Hospital, Westmead	43
	Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Camperdown	41
	South West Area Pathology Service, Liverpool	97
South Australia	Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science, Adelaide	394
Tasmania	Northern Tasmanian Pathology Service, Launceston	2
	Royal Hobart Hospital, Hobart	13
Victoria	Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne	71
	Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory, Fairfield	56
Western Australia	PathCentre Virology, Perth	310
	Princess Margaret Hospital, Perth	132
	Western Diagnostic Pathology	230
Total		1,565

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Table 5. Australian Sentinel Practice Research Network reports, weeks 21 to 24, 1998

Week number	21		22		23		24
Week ending on	31 May 1998		7 June 1998		14 June 1998		21 June 1998
Doctors reporting	49		50		50		47
Total encounters	6,852		6,865		6,085		6,140
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	44	6.4	51	7.4	64	10.5	80	13.0
Rubella	3	0.4	0	0.0	1	0.2	0	0.0
Measles	1	0.1	1	0.1	0	0.0	0	0.0
Chickenpox	11	1.6	9	1.3	9	1.5	17	2.8
Pertussis	0	0.0	1	0.1	1	0.2	1	0.2
HIV testing (patient initiated)	14	2.0	9	1.3	17	2.8	14	2.3
HIV testing (doctor initiated)	5	0.7	2	0.3	6	1.0	7	1.1
Td (ADT) vaccine	33	4.8	43	6.3	27	4.4	30	4.9
Pertussis vaccination	43	6.3	36	5.2	35	5.8	27	4.4
Reaction to pertussis vaccine	2	0.3	1	0.1	0	0.0	1	0.2
Ross River virus infection	1	0.1	0	0.0	1	0.2	1	0.2
Gastroenteritis	71	10.4	76	11.1	72	11.8	51	8.3

The 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 7, 9 July 1998.