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With contributions from:

National organisations

• Communicable Diseases Network Australia and subcommittees
• Australian Childhood Immunisation Register
• Australian Gonococcal Surveillance Programme
• Australian Meningococcal Surveillance Programme
• Australian Sentinel Practice Research Network
• Australian Quarantine Inspection Service
• National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research
• National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance of Vaccine Preventable Diseases
• National Enteric Pathogens Surveillance Scheme
• National Rotavirus Research Centre
• Sentinel Chicken Surveillance Programme
• The National Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Registry
• World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza

State and Territory health departments

• Communicable Diseases Control Unit, Australian Capital Territory Department of Health and Community Care, Australian Capital Territory
• Communicable Diseases Surveillance and Control Unit, New South Wales Health Department, New South Wales
• Centre for Disease Control, Northern Territory Department of Health and Community Services, Northern Territory
• Communicable Diseases Unit, Queensland Health, Queensland
• Communicable Diseases Control Branch, South Australian Department of Human Services, South Australia Communicable Diseases Surveillance, Department of Health and Human Services, Tasmania
• Communicable Diseases Section, Department of Human Services, Victoria
• Communicable Diseases Control Branch, Health Department of Western Australia, Western Australia

Abstract

In 2001 there were 104,187 notifications of communicable diseases in Australia reported to the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS). The number of notifications in 2001 was an increase of 16 per cent of those reported in 2000 (89,740) and the largest annual total since the NNDSS commenced in 1991. In 2001, nine new diseases were added to the list of diseases reported to NNDSS and four diseases were removed. The new diseases were cryptosporidiosis, laboratory-confirmed influenza, invasive pneumococcal disease, Japanese encephalitis, Kunjin virus infection, Murray Valley encephalitis virus infection, anthrax, Australian bat lyssavirus, and other lyssaviruses (not elsewhere classified). Bloodborne virus infections remained the most frequently notified disease (29,057 reports, 27.9% of total), followed by sexually transmitted infections (27,647, 26.5%), gastrointestinal diseases (26,086, 25%), vaccine preventable diseases (13,030 (12.5%), vectorborne diseases (5,294, 5.1%), other bacterial infections (1,978, 1.9%), zoonotic infections (1,091, 1%) and four cases of quarantinable diseases. In 2001 there were increases in the number of notifications of incident hepatitis C, chlamydial infections, pertussis, Barmah Forest virus infection and ornithosis. There were decreases in the number of notifications of hepatitis A, Haemophilus influenzae type b infections, measles, rubella, Ross River virus infections and brucellosis. This report also summarises data on communicable diseases from other surveillance systems including the Laboratory Virology and Serology Reporting Scheme and sentinel general practitioner schemes. In addition, this report comments on other important developments in communicable disease control in Australia in 2001. Commun Dis Intell 2003;27:1-78.

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Author affiliations

1. Surveillance and Epidemiology Section, Department of Health and Ageing, PO Box 9848, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory

2. Principal Veterinary Officer, Animal Health and Welfare Branch, Bureau of Resource Sciences, Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestries, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory

3. Epidemiology Research Officer, National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance of Vaccine Preventable Diseases, New South Wales

4. Deputy Director, National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research, New South Wales

5. Coordinating Epidemiologist, OzFoodNet, Australian New Zealand Food Authority and Department of Health and Ageing

6. Chief Health Officer and Director of Public Health, Department of Human Services, Victoria

7. Manager, Technical and Support Services, The Australian Animal Health Laboratory, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory

8. Infection Management Section, Communicable Diseases and Health Protection, Department of Health and Ageing, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory

Corresponding author: Mr Charlie Blumer, Surveillance and Epidemiology Section, Department of Health and Ageing, GPO Box 9848 (MDP 6), Canberra ACT 2601. Telephone: +61 2 6289 7326. Facsimile: +61 6289 7791. Email: charlie.blumer@health.gov.au.


This article was published in Communicable Diseases Intelligence Volume 27, No 1, March 2003.