A print friendly PDF version is available from this Communicable Diseases Intelligence issue's table of contents.

Communicable Diseases Surveillance consists of data from various sources. The National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS) is conducted under the auspices of the Communicable Diseases Network Australia New Zealand. The Virology and Serology Laboratory Reporting Scheme (LabVISE) is a sentinel surveillance scheme. The Australian Sentinel Practice Research Network (ASPREN) is a general practitioner-based sentinel surveillance scheme. In this report, data from the NNDSS are referred to as 'notifications' or 'cases', whereas those from ASPREN are referred to as 'consultations' or 'encounters' while data from the LabVISE scheme are referred to as 'laboratory reports'.

Meningococcal disease

The number of notifications of meningococcal disease has increased again this reporting period. However, the number of cases reported to date in 1998 (248) remains lower than for the same period in 1997 (273).

Vaccine preventable diseases

The number of pertussis notifications remains low in most States, although a relatively high number continue to be reported from Queensland. There has been a decrease in the number of cases for Australia (by onset date) in each successive month from October 1997 to July 1998.

With the exception of a relatively high number of rubella cases in Queensland the number of notifications for all other vaccine preventable diseases also remains low.

The total number of measles notifications for 1998 has been revised downwards because of a reclassification of 79 cases previously notified as measles by Victoria. These cases have been reclassified as not measles following results of serology.


This article was published in Communicable Diseases Intelligence Volume 22, No 9, 3 September 1998.