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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 4,477 notifications to the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS) in the four week period, 18 August to 14 September 1999 (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 1).

There were 3,853 reports received by the Virology and Serology Laboratory Reporting Scheme (LabVISE) in the four week period, 12 August to 8 September 1999 (Tables 3 and 4).

The Australian Sentinel Practice Research Network (ASPREN) data for weeks 33 to 36, ending 12 September 1999, are included in this issue of CDI (Table 5).

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 18 August to 14 September 1999

Disease1	ACT	NSW	NT	Qld	SA	Tas	Vic	WA	This period 1999	This period 1998	Year to date 19992	Year to date 1998
Diphtheria	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
H. influenzae type b infection	0	1	0	0	1	0	1	0	3	2	30	22
Measles3	0	1	0	0	0	1	21	3	26	31	202	255
Mumps	1	2	2	0	0	1	4	7	17	30	129	139
Pertussis	5	123	0	0	15	108	44	7	302	312	2,619	4,894
Rubella3	0	2	0	1	0	0	17	3	23	104	259	578
Tetanus	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	1	2	4

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. Notifications for Victoria include suspected cases.
4. Includes congenital rubella.

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Table 2. Notifications of diseases received by State and Territory health authorities in the period 18 August to 14 September 1999

Disease1,2,3	ACT	NSW	NT	Qld	SA	Tas	Vic	WA	This period 1999	This period 1998	Year to date 19994	Year to date 1998
Arbovirus infection (NEC)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	70	52
Barmah Forest virus infection	0	9	2	0	0	0	1	2	14	31	507	435
Brucellosis	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	2	20	30
Campylobacteriosis5	21	-	24	6	184	51	369	110	765	1,136	8,787	8,340
Chancroid	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Chlamydial infection (NEC)6,7	17	146	65	6	66	34	208	146	688	975	9,518	7,659
Cholera	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	3	3
Dengue	0	3	1	0	0	0	0	1	5	22	163	378
Donovanosis7	0	0	1	0	NN	0	0	0	1	1	14	26
Gonococcal infection8	2	77	76	1	12	2	41	76	287	424	3,869	3,732
Haemolytic uraemic syndrome9	NN	1	0	0	0	0	NN	0	1	3	13	10
Hepatitis A	0	13	11	1	3	1	29	42	100	133	1,159	2,067
Hepatitis B incident	0	2	0	0	0	0	1	2	5	19	202	190
Hepatitis B unspecified10	0	137	0	0	0	7	208	21	373	496	4,858	4,466
Hepatitis C incident	0	6	0	-	1	0	1	10	18	33	210	213
Hepatitis C unspecified10	8	458	19	17	98	33	608	83	1,324	1,596	14,059	13,559
Hepatitis (NEC)11	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	NN	0	2	14	12
Hydatid infection	0	NN	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	7	22	32
Legionellosis	0	2	0	0	3	0	3	6	14	12	191	176
Leprosy	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	4	2
Leptospirosis	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	2	5	7	276	117
Listeriosis	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	0	3	4	33	42
Malaria	2	10	9	0	1	1	4	4	31	32	518	564
Meningococcal infection	3	23	0	0	3	1	19	9	58	62	373	308
Ornithosis	0	NN	0	0	2	1	5	0	8	1	60	27
Q fever	0	9	0	1	0	0	2	2	14	49	324	386
Ross River virus infection	0	13	4	0	1	1	4	11	34	81	3,986	2,412
Salmonellosis (NEC)	0	71	12	4	24	4	57	48	220	376	5,594	5,676
Shigellosis5	1	-	4	0	4	0	8	9	26	35	412	445
SLTEC, VTEC12	NN	0	0	NN	3	0	NN	NN	3	1	20	9
Syphilis13	3	36	19	1	0	0	0	3	62	188	1,299	1,095
TTP14	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Tuberculosis	2	19	2	0	5	0	1	5	34	87	632	693
Typhoid15	0	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	4	52	52
Yersiniosis (NEC)5	0	-	0	1	1	0	1	0	3	7	109	164

1. Diseases preventable by routine childhood immunisation are presented in Table 1.
2. For HIV and AIDS, see Tables 6 and 7.
3. No notifications have been received during 1999 for the following rare diseases: lymphogranuloma venereum, plague, rabies, yellow fever, or other viral haemorrhagic fevers.
4. 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.
5. Not reported for NSW because it is only notifiable as 'foodborne disease' or 'gastroenteritis in an institution'.
6. WA: genital only.
7. Notifications from NSW have been received since September 1998, and were first reported in CDI in Issue 23(9).
8. NT, Qld, SA and Vic: includes gonococcal neonatal ophthalmia.
9. Nationally reportable from August 1998.
10. Unspecified numbers should be interpreted with some caution as the magnitude may be a reflection of the numbers of testings being carried out.
11. Includes hepatitis D and E.
12. Infections with Shiga-like toxin (verotoxin) producing E. coli (SLTEC/VTEC) became nationally reportable in August 1998.
13. Includes congenital syphilis.
14. Thrombotic thrombocytopaenic purpura became nationally reportable in August 1998.
15. NSW, Qld: includes paratyphoid.
NN Not Notifiable.
NEC Not Elsewhere Classified.
- Elsewhere Classified.

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Figure 1. 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 3. Virology and serology laboratory reports by State or Territory¹ for the reporting period 12 August to 8 September 1999, and total reports for the year

	State or Territory1								Total this period	Total reported in 19992,3
	ACT	NSW	NT	Qld	SA	Tas	Vic	WA
Measles, mumps, rubella
Measles virus							3		3	143
Mumps virus							1	2	3	40
Rubella virus		2		41		1	2	1	47	108
Hepatitis viruses
Hepatitis A virus			13	19				11	43	296
Hepatitis D virus				1					1	5
Arboviruses
Ross River virus		6	10	65		1		2	84	1,215
Barmah Forest virus				14				1	15	135
Dengue not typed								2	2	40
Flavivirus (unspecified)			1	1					2	16
Adenoviruses
Adenovirus type 1							1		1	18
Adenovirus type 4		1							1	13
Adenovirus type 8							1		1	1
Adenovirus type 37							1		1	14
Adenovirus type 40								5	5	59
Adenovirus not typed/pending		26		10			19	26	81	898
Herpes viruses
Herpes virus type 6								3	3	10
Cytomegalovirus		17		44			30	10	101	851
Varicella-zoster virus		21	6	115	1	1	33	22	199	1,246
Epstein-Barr virus		6	6	216		1	8	8	245	1,740
Other DNA viruses
Papovavirus group							1		1	11
Molluscum contagiosum								2	2	13
Parvovirus		2		33	3		16	10	64	342
Picornavirus family
Coxsackievirus B5		1							1	6
Echovirus type 9		1							1	4
Echovirus type 11		23	2						25	44
Echovirus not typed/pending							1		1	120
Poliovirus type 1 (uncharacterised)		3							3	2
Poliovirus type 2 (uncharacterised)		2							2	21
Poliovirus type 3 (uncharacterised)		1							1	20
Rhinovirus (all types)		40					6	7	53	7
Enterovirus type 71 (BCR)							5	1	6	340
Enterovirus not typed/pending		1	2	8			4	51	66	621
Ortho/paramyxoviruses
Influenza A virus		92	1	112			72	125	402	1,432
Influenza A virus H3N2							4		4	27
Influenza B virus		37		10			4	6	57	182
Parainfluenza virus type 1		2		1			1	1	5	36
Parainfluenza virus type 2							7	2	9	95
Parainfluenza virus type 3		22		12			8	49	91	561
Parainfluenza virus type 4								1	1	3
Respiratory syncytial virus		189	1	151		1	190	134	666	2,307
Other RNA viruses
Rotavirus		256					82	65	403	1,507
Norwalk agent							3		3	60
Other
Chlamydia trachomatis not typed		45	62	301			4	48	460	2,305
Chlamydia pneumoniae								1	1	1
Chlamydia psittaci							3		3	73
Chlamydia species		2		4					6	17
Mycoplasma pneumoniae		5	1	103			26	2	137	854
Coxiella burnetii (Q fever)		4	1	37				1	43	144
Rickettsia spp - other								2	2	10
Streptococcus group A		4	12	87					103	142
Yersinia enterocolitica				1					1	10
Brucella species				3					3	5
Bordetella pertussis		1	1	133			11	2	148	526
Legionella longbeachae								2	2	31
Leptospira species		1		11				1	13	6
Treponema pallidum		8	130	86				1	225	311
Entamoeba histolytica				1					1	2
Total	0	821	249	1,620	4	5	547	607	3,853	19,046

1. State or Territory of postcode, if reported, otherwise State or Territory of reporting laboratory.
2. In 1999, data from the Institute of Clinical Pathology and Clinical Research, Westmead were under reported up to September.
3. Totals comprise data from all laboratories. 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.

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Table 4. Virology and serology laboratory reports by contributing laboratories for the reporting period 12 August to 8 September 1999

State or Territory	Laboratory	Reports
New South Wales	Institute of Clinical Pathology and Medical Research, Westmead New Children's Hospital, Westmead Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Camperdown	190 372 178
Queensland	Queensland Medical Laboratory, West End Townsville General Hospital	1,938 22
Victoria	Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory, Fairfield	378 166
Western Australia	PathCentre Virology, Perth Princess Margaret Hospital, Perth	363 246
Total		3,853

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Table 5. Australian Sentinel Practice Research Network reports, weeks 33 to 36, 1999

Week number	33		34		35		36
Week ending on	22 August 1999		29 August 1999		5 September 1999		12 September 1999
Doctors reporting	56		49		49		30
Total encounters	7,839		7,103		6,876		4,130
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	137	17	105	15	77	11	30	7
Rubella	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0
Measles	2	0	2	0	2	0	0	0
Chickenpox	9	1	8	1	9	1	7	2
New diagnosis of asthma	14	2	3	0	7	1	7	2
Post operative wound sepsis	9	1	7	1	5	1	3	1
Gastroenteritis	61	8	53	7	58	8	35	8

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 legislation. 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 10, 30 September 1999.