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NNDSS childhood vaccine preventable diseases | NNDSS table | Historic figure | Labvise table by organism | Labvise table by laboratory | ASPREN table

There were 6,590 notifications to the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS) in the four week period, 28 April to 25 May 1999 (Tables 3 and 4). The numbers of reports for selected diseases have been compared with historical data for corresponding periods in the previous three years (Figure 3).

There were 1,266 reports received by the Virology and Serology Laboratory Reporting Scheme (LabVISE) in the four week period, 22 April to 19 May 1999 (Tables 5 and 6).

The Australian Sentinel Practice Research Network (ASPREN) data for weeks 17 to 20, ending 23 May 1999, are included in this issue of CDI (Table 7).

Table 3. Notifications of diseases preventable by vaccines recommended by the NHMRC for routine childhood immunisation, received by State and Territory health authorities in the period 28 April to 25 May 1999

Disease1,2	ACT	NSW	NT	Qld	SA	Tas	Vic	WA	This period 1999	This period 1998	Year to date 1999	Year to date 1998
Diphtheria	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
H. influenzae type b infection	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	15	7
Measles	4	1	1	3	2	0	11	6	28	24	141	137
Mumps	1	3	0	5	1	0	8	4	22	15	55	67
Pertussis	8	62	0	29	13	1	41	2	156	391	1,222	3,216
Rubella3	4	1	0	9	0	0	9	4	27	66	129	266
Tetanus	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2

NN. Not Notifiable
1. No notification of poliomyelitis has been received since 1978.
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 4. Notifications of diseases received by State and Territory health authorities in the period 28 April to 25 May 1999

Disease1,2,3,4	ACT	NSW	NT	Qld	SA	Tas	Vic	WA	This period 1999	This period 1998	Year to date 1999	Year to date 1998
Arbovirus infection (NEC)	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	15	61	35
Barmah Forest virus infection	0	45	0	58	0	0	1	8	112	80	332	287
Brucellosis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	8	17
Campylobacteriosis5	21	-	20	211	157	23	259	102	793	702	4,652	4,031
Chancroid	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1
Chlamydial infection (NEC)6	13	NN	64	347	77	22	255	144	922	965	4,936	3,741
Cholera	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2
Dengue	0	2	0	5	1	0	0	3	11	45	144	242
Donovanosis	0	NN	0	0	NN	0	0	1	1	1	6	19
Gonococcal infection7	2	87	81	78	11	1	59	77	396	492	2,054	1,885
Haemolytic uraemic syndrome8	NN	0	0	0	0	0	NN	0	0	3	11	6
Hepatitis A	1	40	2	41	11	0	10	20	125	282	667	1,213
Hepatitis B incident	0	1	0	5	2	0	7	7	22	21	116	105
Hepatitis B unspecified9	8	224	0	61	0	4	173	15	485	545	2,397	2,525
Hepatitis C incident	4	2	0	-	5	4	11	12	34	23	124	94
Hepatitis C unspecified9	25	496	15	253	64	24	645	64	1,586	1,752	7,465	7,992
Hepatitis (NEC)10	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	NN	1	1	3	7
Hydatid infection	0	0	0	0	1	0	3	0	4	2	11	12
Legionellosis	1	5	0	4	2	0	8	5	25	25	125	87
Leprosy	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Leptospirosis	0	3	0	35	0	1	1	0	40	16	176	58
Listeriosis	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	2	2	17	23
Malaria	2	9	0	18	1	0	4	2	36	42	294	215
Meningococcal infection	0	15	2	1	1	3	7	2	31	27	135	84
Ornithosis	0	NN	0	0	0	0	10	0	10	4	30	12
Q fever	0	15	0	16	0	0	0	0	31	53	171	196
Ross River virus infection	1	166	5	425	2	21	22	77	719	536	3,136	1,826
Salmonellosis (NEC)	4	125	46	222	46	13	138	80	674	758	4,195	3,645
Shigellosis5	1	-	12	16	9	0	10	10	58	59	256	259
SLTEC, VTEC11	NN	0	0	NN	0	0	NN	NN	0	1	11	5
Syphilis12	0	31	27	67	0	0	0	5	130	101	684	464
TTP13	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Tuberculosis	0	31	3	13	9	1	30	7	94	84	541	451
Typhoid14	0	2	0	0	0	0	2	1	5	3	26	43
Yersiniosis (NEC)5	0	-	0	5	0	0	2	1	8	22	75	110

1. Diseases preventable by routine childhood immunisation are presented in Table 3.
2. For HIV and AIDS, see Tables 9 and 10.
3. 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.
4. No notifications have been received during 1999 for the following rare diseases: lymphogranuloma venereum, plague, rabies, yellow fever, or other viral haemorrhagic fevers.
5. Not reported for NSW because it is only notifiable as 'foodborne disease' or 'gastroenteritis in an institution'.
6. WA: genital only.
7. NT, Qld, SA and Vic: includes gonococcal neonatal ophthalmia. 8. Nationally reportable from August 1998.
9. Unspecified numbers should be interpreted with some caution as the magnitude may be a reflection of the numbers of testings being carried out.
10. Includes hepatitis D and E.
11. Infections with Shiga-like toxin (verotoxin) producing E. coli (SLTEC/VTEC) became nationally reportable in August 1998.
12. Includes congenital syphilis.
13. Thrombotic thrombocytopaenic purpura became nationally reportable in August 1998.
14. NSW, Qld: includes paratyphoid.
NN Not Notifiable.
NEC Not Elsewhere Classified.
- Elsewhere Classified.

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Figure 3. 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 5. Virology and serology laboratory reports by State or Territory¹ for the reporting period 22 April to 19 May 1999, and total reports for the year

	State or Territory1								Total this period	Total reported in CDI in 1999
	ACT	NSW	NT	Qld	SA	Tas	Vic	WA
Measles, mumps, rubella
Measles virus							12	5	17	118
Mumps virus								8	8	26
Rubella virus				9				2	11	38
Hepatitis viruses
Hepatitis A virus		2		7			1	12	22	171
Arboviruses
Ross River virus		6	1	88			4	56	155	898
Barmah Forest virus		1		21			1	5	28	83
Dengue not typed			1					8	9	30
Adenoviruses
Adenovirus type 3							1		1	18
Adenovirus type 40			1					5	6	26
Adenovirus not typed/pending		16		8			21	17	62	503
Herpes viruses
Herpes virus type 6								1	1	3
Cytomegalovirus		12		15			35	7	69	490
Varicella-zoster virus		9	3	20			31	35	98	713
Epstein-Barr virus		14	1	50			6	26	97	1,072
Other DNA viruses
Papovavirus group								4	4	5
Molluscum contagiosum								3	3	6
Contagious pustular dermatitis (Orf virus)								3	3	8
Parvovirus			1	3			13	8	25	161
Picornavirus family
Echovirus type 6		1							1	13
Echovirus type 9		3							3	23
Echovirus type 11		5					1		6	36
Echovirus type 19		1							1	1
Rhinovirus (all types)		11		1				11	23	151
Enterovirus not typed/pending		1	2	2			6	51	62	326
Ortho/paramyxoviruses
Influenza A virus		4	1	5			14	12	36	263
Influenza A virus H1N1							1		1	1
Influenza B virus							3	7	10	48
Parainfluenza virus type 1		1		1			1		3	19
Parainfluenza virus type 2							9		9	25
Parainfluenza virus type 3		5		1			13		19	297
Respiratory syncytial virus		64		18		1	12	20	115	448
Other RNA viruses
Rotavirus		12		1			17	15	45	356
Astrovirus							1		1	1
Norwalk agent							4		4	34
Other
Chlamydia trachomatis not typed		15	15	63		2	15	82	192	1,140
Chlamydia psittaci							2		2	32
Chlamydia species				1					1	6
Mycoplasma pneumoniae		14	1	17			23	6	61	513
Coxiella burnetii (Q fever)				8			2		10	65
Salmonella species								1	1	2
Bordetella pertussis		5		23			12	1	41	250
Total		202	27	362		3	261	411	1,266	8,419

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

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Table 6. Virology and serology laboratory reports by contributing laboratories for the reporting period 22 April to 19 May 1999

State or Territory	Laboratory	Reports
New South Wales	New Children's Hospital, Westmead Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Camperdown South West Area Pathology Service, Liverpool	52 13 123
Queensland	Queensland Medical Laboratory, West End Townsville General Hospital	361 25
Tasmania	Northern Tasmanian Pathology Service, Launceston	3
Victoria	Monash Medical Centre, Melbourne Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory, Fairfield	30 144 86
Western Australia	PathCentre Virology, Perth	429
Total		1,266

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Table 7. Australian Sentinel Practice Research Network reports, weeks 17 to 20, 1999

Week number	17		18		19		20
Week ending on	2 May 1999		9 May 1999		16 May 1999		23 May 1999
Doctors reporting	53		53		54		47
Total encounters	6,109		6,717		7,271		5,938
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	22	3.6	26	3.9	30	4.1	40	6.7
Rubella	0	0.0	0	0.0	2	0.3	0	0.0
Measles	1	0.2	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0
Chickenpox	6	1.0	7	1.0	15	2.1	9	1.5
New diagnosis of asthma	5	0.8	12	1.8	8	1.1	10	1.7
Post operative wound sepsis	7	1.1	8	1.2	3	0.4	3	0.5
Gastroenteritis	53	8.7	62	9.2	82	11.3	55	9.3

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 1999;23:58.

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 1999;23:58.

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 in 1999. CDI reports the consultation rates for seven of these. For further information, including case definitions, see Commun Dis Intell 1999;23:55-56.


This article was published in Communicable Diseases Intelligence Volume 23, No 6, 10 June 1999.