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Sentinel Chicken Surveillance Programme

Sentinel chicken flocks are used to monitor flavivirus activity in Australia. The main viruses of concern are Murray Valley encephalitis (MVE) and Kunjin which cause the potentially fatal disease Australian encephalitis in humans. Currently 26 flocks are maintained in the north of Western Australia, seven in the Northern Territory, nine in New South Wales and ten in Victoria. The flocks in Western Australia and the Northern Territory are tested year round but those in New South Wales and Victoria are tested only from November to March, during the main risk season.

Results are coordinated by the Arbovirus Laboratory in Perth and reported bimonthly. For more information see Commun Dis Intell 1999;23:57-58

AK Broom,¹ JS Mackenzie,² L Melville,³ DW Smith⁴ and PI Whelan⁵

1. Department of Microbiology, The University of Western Australia
2. Department of Microbiology, The University of Queensland
3. Berrimah Agricultural Research Centre, Northern Territory
4. PathCentre, Western Australia
5. Department of Health and Community Services, Northern Territory

March/April 1999

Sentinel chicken serology was carried out for 26 of the 27 flocks in Western Australia in March and April 1999. There were a large number of seroconversions to flaviviruses in both the Kimberley and Pilbara flocks during this period. The number of chickens positive for flavivirus antibodies by ELISA and the virus (or viruses) they were infected with is shown in Table 8. In addition there were also a number of unconfirmed seroconversions to MVE virus (not shown in the table) from Broome and Derby in the Kimberley and from Pardoo and Newman in the Pilbara.

Serum samples from all of the seven Northern Territory sentinel chicken flocks were tested in our laboratory in March and April 1999. There was one seroconversion to MVE in the Beatrice Hill Farm flock (near Darwin) in March. In addition there were two seroconversions during April 1999, one to MVE at Gove and one to a flavivirus only from Leanyer. The April seroconversions have not yet been confirmed.

The sentinel chicken programs in Victoria and New South Wales have now finished for the season.

Details of the locations of all chicken flocks are given in Commun Dis Intell 1999;23:57-58.

Table 8. Flavivirus seroconversions in Western Australian sentinel chicken flocks in March and April 1999

Location	March 1999				April 1999
	MVE	KUN	MVE/KUN	FLAVI	MVE	KUN	MVE/KUN
Kimberley
Kalumburu	4		1
Wyndham	3
Kununurra	1
Halls Creek	7				1
Fitzroy Crossing	5
Pilbara
Port Hedland					4	1
Harding Dam*	5				12
Pardoo	4		2	1
Tom Price	4		1		5		1
Paraburdoo	4		1		3	1
Onslow					3
Newman*	5	1			1
Gascoyne
Carnarvon

* 2 flocks of 12 chickens at these sites
MVE - Antibodies to Murray Valley encephalitis virus detected by ELISA
KUN - Antibodies to Kunjin virus detected by ELISA
MVE/KUN - Antibodies to both MVE and KUN viruses detected by ELISA
FLAVI - Antibodies to a flavivirus only (not MVE or KUN) detected by ELISA

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HIV and AIDS Surveillance

National surveillance for HIV disease is coordinated by the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research (NCHECR), in collaboration with State and Territory health authorities and the Commonwealth of Australia. Cases of HIV infection are notified to the National HIV Database on the first occasion of diagnosis in Australia, by either the diagnosing laboratory (ACT, New South Wales, Tasmania, Victoria) or by a combination of laboratory and doctor sources (Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia). Cases of AIDS are notified through the State and Territory health authorities to the National AIDS Registry. Diagnoses of both HIV infection and AIDS are notified with the person's date of birth and name code, to minimise duplicate notifications while maintaining confidentiality.

Tabulations of diagnoses of HIV infection and AIDS are based on data available three months after the end of the reporting interval indicated, to allow for reporting delay and to incorporate newly available information. More detailed information on diagnoses of HIV infection and AIDS is published in the quarterly Australian HIV Surveillance Report, and annually in HIV/AIDS and related diseases in Australia Annual Surveillance Report. The reports are available from the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research, 376 Victoria Street, Darlinghurst NSW 2010. Telephone: (02) 9332 4648; Facsimile: (02) 9332 1837; http://www.med.unsw.edu.qu/nchecr.

HIV and AIDS diagnoses and deaths following AIDS reported for 1 to 31 January 1999, as reported to 30 April 1999, are included in this issue of Commun Dis Intell (Tables 9 and 10).

Table 9. New diagnoses of HIV infection, new diagnoses of AIDS and deaths following AIDS occurring in the period 1 to 31 January 1999, by sex and State or Territory of diagnosis

		State or territory								Totals for Australia
		ACT	NSW	NT	Qld	SA	Tas	Vic	WA	This period 1999	This period 1998	Year to date 1999	Year to date 1998
HIV diagnoses	Female	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	2	3	2
	Male	0	23	0	8	1	0	8	3	43	62	43	62
	Sex not reported	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	1	0
	Total1	0	25	0	8	1	0	9	4	47	64	47	64
AIDS diagnoses	Female	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	2
	Male	0	3	0	0	0	0	1	0	4	26	4	26
	Total1	0	3	0	0	0	0	1	0	4	28	4	28
AIDS deaths	Female	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Male	0	7	0	5	0	0	3	1	16	12	16	12
	Total1	0	8	0	5	0	0	3	1	17	12	17	12

1. Persons whose sex was reported as transgender are included in the totals.

Table 10. Cumulative diagnoses of HIV infection, AIDS and deaths following AIDS since the introduction of HIV antibody testing to 30 April 1999, by sex and State or Territory

		State or Territory								Australia
		ACT	NSW	NT	Qld	SA	Tas	Vic	WA
HIV diagnoses	Female	22	582	8	131	57	5	199	103	1,107
	Male	187	10,521	104	1,871	649	77	3,757	872	18,038
	Sex not reported	0	259	0	0	0	0	25	0	284
	Total1	209	11,381	112	2,009	706	82	3,994	978	19,471
AIDS diagnoses	Female	8	169	0	45	20	3	67	26	338
	Male	85	4,517	33	784	326	44	1,584	343	7,716
	Total1	93	4,698	33	831	346	47	1,658	371	8,077
AIDS deaths	Female	2	113	0	30	15	2	47	16	225
	Male	63	3,122	24	552	224	28	1,238	245	5,496
	Total1	65	3,243	24	584	239	30	1,291	262	5,738

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