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There were 3,874 notifications to the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS) in the four week period, 8 December 1999 to 4 January 2000 (Tables 1 and 2). The number of reports for selected diseases have been compared with historical data for corresponding periods in the previous three years (Figure 8).

There were 1,145 reports received by the Virology and Serology Laboratory Reporting Scheme (LabVISE) in the four week period, 2 to 29 December 1999 (Tables 3 and 4).

The Australian Sentinel Practice Research Network (ASPREN) data for weeks 49 to 51, ending 26 December 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 8 December 1999 to 4 January 2000

Disease1	ACT	NSW	NT	Qld	SA	Tas	Vic	WA*	This period 1999	This period 1998	Full year 19992	Full year 1998
Diphtheria	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
H. influenzae type b infection	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	40	35
Measles	0	0	0	0	1	0	3	1	5	9	235	306
Mumps	0	1	0	0	1	0	3	2	7	12	178	183
Pertussis	9	74	0	44	7	87	82	1	304	293	4,403	6,432
Rubella3	2	0	1	5	0	0	6	0	14	23	379	772
Tetanus	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	3	7

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.
* Data for 2000 not available this period.

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Table 2. Notifications of diseases received by State and Territory health authorities in the period 8 December 1999 to 4 January 2000

Disease1,2,3	ACT	NSW	NT	Qld	SA*	Tas	Vic	WA*	This period 1999	This period 1998	Full year 19994	Full year 1998
Arbovirus infection (NEC)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	15	71	81
Barmah Forest virus infection	0	5	0	17	0	0	2	6	30	33	629	558
Brucellosis	0	0	0	4	0	0	0	0	4	2	54	45
Campylobacteriosis5	16	-	6	199	129	34	218	86	688	1,087	12,723	13,449
Chancroid	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Chlamydial infection (NEC)6	11	76	20	287	69	13	130	92	698	847	13,782	11,520
Cholera	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	4	4
Dengue	0	0	5	4	0	0	0	0	9	55	181	557
Donovanosis	0	0	0	0	NN	0	0	1	1	0	18	31
Gonococcal infection7	1	24	23	86	15	3	29	56	237	408	5,542	5,428
Haemolytic uraemic syndrome	NN	0	0	0	0	0	NN	0	0	0	16	13
Hepatitis A	0	8	4	14	1	0	31	17	75	62	1,592	2,503
Hepatitis B incident	0	4	6	4	1	0	5	3	23	10	311	261
Hepatitis B unspecified8	7	122	0	44	0	2	4	21	200	455	7,143	6,682
Hepatitis C incident	0	3	0	-	5	0	0	7	15	24	334	343
Hepatitis C unspecified8	20	274	1	190	71	22	175	79	832	1,320	20,566	19,261
Hepatitis (NEC)9	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	NN	1	2	23	19
Hydatid infection	0	NN	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	4	30	46
Legionellosis	0	1	0	0	6	0	2	5	14	19	250	271
Leprosy	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	6	3
Leptospirosis	0	4	0	2	0	0	4	0	10	17	334	197
Listeriosis	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	2	4	5	62	58
Malaria	4	3	1	13	5	0	9	2	37	42	711	705
Meningococcal infection	0	6	1	5	3	1	13	4	33	31	558	455
Ornithosis	0	NN	0	NN	0	0	7	1	8	7	86	56
Q fever	0	7	0	15	2	0	1	1	26	31	514	571
Ross River virus infection	1	8	18	27	4	0	3	74	135	333	4,410	3,094
Salmonellosis (NEC)	6	59	9	121	30	15	80	20	340	441	7,186	7,700
Shigellosis5	0	-	2	5	5	0	9	4	25	35	548	615
SLTEC, VTEC10	NN	0	0	NN	3	0	NN	NN	3	2	37	11
Syphilis11	2	14	3	23	0	0	0	21	63	186	1,913	1,694
TTP12	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Tuberculosis	1	12	0	4	0	0	0	1	18	73	837	982
Typhoid13	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	6	67	69
Yersiniosis (NEC)5	0	-	0	3	3	0	0	1	7	12	148	207

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. NT, Qld, SA and Vic: includes gonococcal neonatal ophthalmia.
8. Unspecified numbers should be interpreted with some caution as the magnitude may be a reflection of the numbers of testings being carried out.
9. Includes hepatitis D and E.
10. Infections with Shiga-like toxin (verotoxin) producing E. Coli (SLTEC/VTEC).
11. Includes congenital syphilis.
12. Thrombotic thrombocytopaenic purpura.
13. NSW, Qld: includes paratyphoid.
NN Not Notifiable.
NEC Not Elsewhere Classified.
- Elsewhere Classified.
* Data for 2000 for South Australian STDs and Western Australia is not available for this period.

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Figure 8. 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 contributing laboratories for the reporting period 2 to 29 December 1999¹

State or Territory	Laboratory	This period 1999	Total this period 19992
Australian Capital Territory	The Canberra Hospital	0	0
New South Wales	Institute of Clinical Pathology and Medical Research, Westmead New Children's Hospital, Westmead Repatriation General Hospital, Concord Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Camperdown South West Area Pathology Service, Liverpool	56 20 0 7 0	147 30 0 35 0
Queensland	Queensland Medical Laboratory, West End Townsville General Hospital	550 11	4,745 13
South Australia	Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science, Adelaide	240	304
Tasmania	Northern Tasmanian Pathology Service, Launceston Royal Hobart Hospital, Hobart	0 0	0 0
Victoria	Monash Medical Centre, Melbourne Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory, Fairfield	28 98 91	34 157 139
Western Australia	PathCentre Virology, Perth Princess Margaret Hospital, Perth Western Diagnostic Pathology	0 44 0	0 54 0
Total		1,145	5,658

1. The complete list of laboratories reporting for the 12 months, January to December 2000, will appear in every report from January 2000 regardless of whether reports were received in this reporting period. Reports are not always received from all laboratories.
2. Total reports include both reports for the current period and outstanding reports to date.

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Table 4. Virology and serology laboratory reports by State or Territory¹ for the reporting period 2 to 29 December 1999, and total reports for the year²

	State or Territory1								This period 1999	This period 1998	Year to date 19993	Year to date 1998
	ACT	NSW	NT	Qld	SA	Tas	Vic	WA
Measles, mumps, rubella
Measles virus	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	3	178	3
Mumps virus	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	2	1	55	1
Rubella virus	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	2	3	139	3
Hepatitis viruses
Hepatitis A virus	0	2	1	3	2	0	0	0	8	23	356	23
Hepatitis D virus	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	7	0
Arboviruses
Ross River virus	0	0	21	26	3	0	0	0	50	52	1,332	52
Barmah Forest virus	0	0	3	13	0	0	0	0	16	7	173	7
Flavivirus (unspecified)	0	0	1	3	0	0	0	0	4	1	25	1
Adenovirus not typed/pending	0	4	0	0	30	0	11	15	60	95	1,064	95
Herpes viruses
Cytomegalovirus	0	7	0	11	26	1	22	1	68	76	1,148	76
Varicella-zoster virus	0	7	1	40	14	1	25	3	91	110	1,589	110
Epstein-Barr virus	0	5	0	93	36	0	8	0	142	161	2,199	161
Other DNA viruses
Parvovirus	0	0	0	0	1	1	8	0	10	26	424	26
Picornavirus family
Echovirus type 11	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	7	157	7
Poliovirus type 2 (uncharacterised)	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	6	14	6
Rhinovirus (all types)	0	11	0	1	6	0	2	0	20	37	454	37
Enterovirus type 71 (BCR)	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	4	2	15	2
Enterovirus not typed/pending	0	3	0	1	0	0	8	0	12	46	691	46
Ortho/paramyxoviruses
Influenza A virus	0	1	0	1	17	0	6	0	25	16	1,802	16
Influenza B virus	0	1	0	0	1	0	1	0	3	2	279	2
Parainfluenza virus type 1	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	0	3	3	41	3
Parainfluenza virus type 2	0	0	0	2	2	0	0	0	4	1	112	1
Parainfluenza virus type 3	0	4	0	2	5	0	6	5	22	108	759	108
Respiratory syncytial virus	0	5	0	5	5	0	15	7	37	55	3,012	55
Other RNA viruses
HTLV-1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	12	0
Rotavirus	0	17	0	1	44	0	23	13	98	73	2,157	73
Norwalk agent	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	3	7	58	7
Other
Chlamydia trachomatis not typed	0	26	17	105	40	0	7	2	197	136	3,178	136
Chlamydia psittaci	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	13	76	13
Chlamydia species	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	20	1
Mycoplasma pneumoniae	0	1	1	22	5	0	36	0	65	96	1,112	96
Coxiella burnetii (Q fever)	0	2	0	5	0	0	2	0	9	5	214	5
Streptococcus group A	0	1	9	28	0	0	0	0	38	0	353	0
Bordetella pertussis	0	0	0	43	0	0	21	0	64	25	823	25
Legionella longbeachae	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	2	6	36	6
Leptospira species	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	52	0
Treponema pallidum	0	0	53	24	0	0	0	0	77	1	750	1
Total	0	101	108	433	241	3	213	46	1,145	1,204	24,866	1,204

1. State or Territory of postcode, if reported, otherwise State or Territory of reporting laboratory.
2. From January 2000 data presented are for reports with report dates in the current period. Previously reports included all data received in that period.
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 5. Australian Sentinel Practice Research Network reports, weeks 49 to 51, 1999

Week number	49		50		51
Week ending on	12 December 1999		19 December 1999		26 December 1999
Doctors reporting	63		53		47
Total encounters	7,197		6,428		5,106
Condition	Reports	Rate per 1,000 encounters	Reports	Rate per 1,000 encounters	Reports	Rate per 1,000 encounters
Influenza	16	2.2	5	0.8	9	1.8
Rubella	2	0.3	0	0.0	0	0.0
Measles	0	0.0	1	0.2	1	0.2
Chickenpox	20	2.8	12	1.9	7	1.4
New diagnosis of asthma	11	1.5	2	0.3	1	0.2
Post operative wound sepsis	9	1.3	11	1.7	8	1.6
Gastroenteritis	77	10.7	56	8.7	62	12.1

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 2000;24:6.

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 2000;24:10.

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 2000;24:7-8.


This article was published in Communicable Diseases Intelligence Volume 24, No 1, 20 January 2000.