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There were 7,075 notifications to the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS) with a notification date in February 2000 (Table 1). Data by date of report for weeks 5 to 8, ending 27 February 2000, are included in this issue of CDI (Table 2). The number of reports for selected diseases¹ have been compared with a 5 year mean, calculated using January to March data for the previous 5 years* (Figure 9).

The Australian Sentinel Practice Research Network (ASPREN) data for weeks 5 to 8, ending 27 February 2000, are included in this issue of CDI (Table 3).

As this is a supplementary issue, LabVISE tables are not included.

Figure 9. Selected¹ diseases from the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System, comparison of provisional totals for the period 1 to 29 February 2000 with historical data²

1. Selected diseases are chosen each calendar month according to current activity
2. Ratio of current month total to mean of last 5 years as defined above*

Top of pageTable 1. Notifications of diseases received by State and Territory health authorities in the period 1 to 29 February 2000, by date of notification

Disease	ACT	NSW	NT	Qld	SA	Tas	Vic	WA	Total Feb 20001	Total Jan 20001	Total Feb19991	Last 5 years mean	Year to date 2000	Last 5 years YTD mean	Ratio*
Bloodborne
Hepatitis B (incident)	0	5	0	6	0	1	2	1	15	27	26	25	42	51	0.6
Hepatitis B (unspecified)2	4	219	0	55	0	2	45	93	418	536	553	579	954	1,096	0.7
Hepatitis C (incident)	1	3	0	0	6	0	4	11	25	13	28	15	38	27	1.7
Hepatitis C (unspecified)2	21	650	4	277	41	37	751	143	1,924	1,507	1,862	1,314	3,431	2,579	1.5
Hepatitis D	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	0	3	-
Gastrointestinal
Botulism	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	-
Campylobacterosis3	18	0	10	297	135	19	380	130	989	1,134	1,024	1,000	2,123	2,015	1.0
Haemolytic uraemic syndrome	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	7	2	2	2	0.5
Hepatitis A	0	13	5	24	6	0	19	27	94	124	178	245	218	535	0.4
Hepatitis E	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	1	-
Listerosis	0	2	0	2	1	1	1	0	7	10	4	7	17	15	1.0
Salmonellosis	7	94	36	215	37	15	126	79	609	666	917	834	1,275	1,533	0.7
Shigellosis3	0	0	6	11	1	1	9	14	42	42	51	70	84	141	0.6
SLTEC,VTEC4	0	0	0	0	5	0	0	0	5	4	4	3	9	3	1.7
Typhoid	0	1	0	1	0	0	3	0	5	9	9	10	14	23	0.5
Yersiniosis3	0	0	0	5	3	0	1	0	9	9	13	28	18	62	0.3
Quarantinable
Cholera	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	1	1	1.0
Plague	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	-
Rabies	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	-
Viral haemorrhagic fever	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	-
Yellow fever	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	-
Sexually transmissible
Chancroid	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	-
Chlamydial infection5	21	187	51	390	63	33	295	170	1,210	1,149	1,130	824	2,359	1,599	1.5
Donovanosis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0	5	5	11	-
Gonococcal infection6	0	72	71	79	14	0	73	99	408	511	492	388	919	770	1.1
Lymphogranuloma venereum	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	-
Syphilis7	1	41	10	54	0	0	0	4	110	128	182	146	238	281	0.8
Vaccine preventable
Diphtheria	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	-
Haemophilus influenzae type b	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	3	5	3	9	-
Measles	1	1	0	7	0	0	1	1	11	8	14	60	19	116	0.2
Mumps	1	2	1	0	2	0	3	6	15	12	9	13	27	25	1.2
Pertussis	5	77	0	42	17	29	83	2	255	392	260	468	647	1,036	0.5
Poliomyelitis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	-
Rubella8	0	6	0	4	1	0	4	0	15	17	23	133	32	295	0.1
Tetanus	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	1	2	1	1.0
Vectorborne
Arbovirus infection NEC	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	0	7	2	7	2	10	19	0.7
Barmah Forest virus infection	0	24	1	27	0	0	3	5	60	51	60	51	89	143	0.7
Dengue	0	3	14	31	0	0	1	0	49	49	49	49	25	57	2.0
Malaria	0	10	4	53	3	1	16	1	88	71	88	71	82	183	1.1
Ross River virus infection	0	60	27	278	38	0	40	105	548	536	548	536	887	1,476	0.6
Zoonoses
Brucellosis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	3	2	7	-
Hydatid infection	0	0	0	2	0	0	1	0	4	2	1	2	6	4	2.0
Leptospirosis	0	1	0	4	0	0	2	0	7	20	28	18	27	31	0.4
Ornithosis	0	0	0	0	1	0	10	0	11	3	10	7	14	13	1.6
Q fever	0	5	0	35	0	0	1	0	43	39	41	41	82	79	1.0
Other
Legionellosis	0	0	0	5	5	0	20	3	33	17	38	20	50	39	1.7
Leprosy	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	-
Meningococcal infection	0	10	1	2	0	0	6	5	24	45	18	22	69	45	1.1
Tuberculosis	0	21	4	2	0	0	0	5	32	41	75	87	73	168	0.4
Total	80	1,508	245	1,908	381	139	1,907	907	7,075	7,186	7,868	7,478	14,261	14,499

1. 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.
2. Unspecified numbers should be interpreted with some caution as the magnitude may be a reflection of the number of tests being carried out.
3. Not reported for NSW because it is only notifiable as 'foodborne disease' or 'gastroenteritis in an institution'.
4. Infections with Shiga-like toxin (verotoxin) producing E. Coli (SLTEC/VTEC).
5. WA: genital only.
6. NT, Qld, SA, Vic and WA: includes gonococcal neonatal ophthalmia.
7. Includes congenital syphilis.
8. Includes congenital rubella
NN Not Notifiable.
NEC Not Elsewhere Classified.
- Elsewhere Classified.
* Ratio = ratio of current month total to mean of last 5 years as described above*

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Table 2. Notifications of diseases received by State and Territory health authorities for weeks 5 to 8, by date of report,* February 2000

Week number	5	6	7	8	Year to date
Week ending on	6 February 2000	13 February 2000	20 February 2000	27 February 2000
Disease1
Bloodborne
Hepatitis B (incident)	7	6	2	5	45
Hepatitis B (unspecified)2	132	97	140	80	977
Hepatitis C (incident)	8	7	4	9	49
Hepatitis C (unspecified)2	402	725	486	434	3,525
Hepatitis D	0	0	0	0	0
Gastrointestinal
Botulism	0	0	0	0	0
Campylobacterosis3	217	271	276	247	2,081
Haemolytic uraemic syndrome	1	0	0	0	2
Hepatitis A	28	31	30	18	216
Hepatitis E	0	0	0	0	0
Listerosis	0	1	4	3	17
Salmonellosis	164	146	200	143	1,272
Shigellosis3	14	9	9	11	75
SLTEC,VTEC4	0	2	1	0	9
Typhoid	4	1	4	1	17
Yersiniosis3	0	3	3	1	16
Quarantinable
Cholera	0	0	0	0	0
Plague	0	0	0	0	0
Rabies	0	0	0	0	0
Viral haemorrhagic fever	0	0	0	0	0
Yellow Fever	0	0	0	0	0
Sexually transmissible
Chancroid	0	0	0	0	0
Chlamydial infection5	292	299	344	345	2,374
Donovanosis	1	0	0	0	3
Gonococcal infection6	114	109	128	115	928
Lymphogranuloma venereum	0	0	0	0	0
Syphilis7	48	33	25	42	275
Vaccine preventable
Diphtheria	0	0	0	0	0
Haemophilus influenzae type b	1	0	1	0	4
Measles	3	1	4	3	18
Mumps	4	3	4	3	28
Pertussis	80	119	109	71	788
Poliomyelitis	0	0	0	0	0
Rubella8	2	2	2	4	32
Tetanus	0	2	0	0	2
Vectorborne
Arbovirus infection NEC	0	0	0	4	6
Barmah Forest virus infection	13	20	14	20	107
Dengue	13	17	5	15	83
Malaria	24	33	17	22	149
Ross River virus infection	130	194	162	170	1,076
Zoonoses
Brucellosis	0	0	0	0	3
Hydatid infection	0	0	1	1	4
Leptospirosis	2	11	0	2	33
Ornithosis	1	1	7	1	14
Q fever	10	14	12	16	94
Other
Legionellosis	6	9	6	11	47
Leprosy	0	0	0	0	0
Meningococcal infection	11	6	8	2	75
Tuberculosis	17	19	13	17	117
Total	1,749	2,191	2,021	1,816	14,561

1. 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.
2. Unspecified numbers should be interpreted with some caution as the magnitude may be a reflection of the number of tests being carried out.
3. Not reported for NSW because it is only notifiable as 'foodborne disease' or 'gastroenteritis in an institution'.
4. Infections with Shiga-like toxin (verotoxin) producing E. coli (SLTEC/VTEC).
5. WA: genital only.
6. NT, Qld, SA, Vic and WA: includes gonococcal neonatal ophthalmia.
7. Includes congenital syphilis.
8. Includes congenital rubella
NN Not Notifiable.
NEC Not Elsewhere Classified.
- Elsewhere Classified.
* Date of report is the date the public health unit received the report.

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Table 3. Australian Sentinel Practice Research Network reports, weeks 5 to 8, 2000

Week number	5		6		7		8
Week ending on	6 February 2000		13 February 2000		20 February 2000		27 February 2000
Doctors reporting	65		66		69		62
Total encounters	7,636		8,684		8,630		7,571
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	10	1.3	13	1.5	16	1.9	12	1.6
Chickenpox	12	1.6	14	1.6	9	1.0	9	1.2
Gastroenteritis	65	8.5	95	10.9	79	9.2	77	10.2
Gastroenteritis with stool culture	17	2.2	14	1.6	13	1.5	7	0.9
ADT immunisations	44	5.8	64	7.4	76	8.8	61	8.1

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 legislations. De-identified core unit data are supplied fortnightly for collation, analysis and dissemination. For further information, see Commun Dis Intell 2000;24:6.

ASPREN currently comprises about 120 general practitioners from throughout the country. Between 7,000 and 8,000 consultations are reported each week, with special attention to 14 conditions chosen for sentinel surveillance in 2000. CDI reports the consultation rates for five 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, Supplement, March 2000.