Australia's notifiable diseases status, 2005: Annual report of the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System - Results summary continued/Table 4

The Australia’s notifiable diseases status, 2005 report provides data and an analysis of communicable disease incidence in Australia during 2005. The full report is available in 20 HTML documents. This document contains the Results summary continued - Table 4. The full report is also available in PDF format from the Table of contents page.

Page last updated: 13 April 2007

This article {extract} was published in Communicable Diseases Intelligence Vol 31 No 1 March 2007 and may be downloaded as a full version PDF from the Table of contents page.

Results, continued

Table 4. Notifications and notification rate for communicable diseases, Australia, 2001 to 2005, (per 100,000 population)

Disease
Notifications Rate per 100,000 population
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
Bloodborne diseases
Hepatitis B (incident)
422
383
345
282
245
2.2
2.0
1.7
1.4
1.2
Hepatitis B (unspecified)*
8,025
6,353
5,824
5,829
6,396
41.2
32.3
29.3
29.0
31.5
Hepatitis C (incident)
694
438
518
453
357
3.6
2.2
2.6
2.3
1.8
Hepatitis C (unspecified)*,†
19,370
14,462
13,716
12,993
12,250
99.4
73.6
69.0
64.6
60.3
Hepatitis D
20
20
27
28
30
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
Gastrointestinal diseases
Botulism
2
0
1
1
3
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
Campylobacteriosis
16,134
14,740
15,357
15,579
16,468
125.3
113.3
116.4
116.4
121.5
Cryptosporidiosis
1,629
3,266
1,223
1,684
3,209
8.4
16.6
6.2
8.4
15.8
Haemolytic uraemic syndrome
3
12
15
16
20
0.0
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
Hepatitis A
539
388
431
319
325
2.8
2.0
2.2
1.6
1.6
Hepatitis E
14
12
12
28
31
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.2
Listeriosis
64
62
69
67
54
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.3
Salmonellosis (NEC)
7,050
7,699
7,008
7,834
8,441
36.2
39.2
35.2
39.0
41.5
Shigellosis
567
504
442
520
732
2.9
2.6
2.2
2.6
3.6
SLTEC, VTEC§
46
58
52
49
87
0.2
0.3
0.3
0.2
0.4
Typhoid
77
68
51
76
52
0.4
0.3
0.3
0.4
0.3
Quarantinable diseases
Cholera
4
5
1
5
3
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
Plague
0
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
0.0
Severe acute respiratory syndrome
0
0
0
0
0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
Smallpox
0
0
0
0
0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
Tularaemia
0
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
0.0
Yellow fever
0
0
0
0
0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
Sexually transmitted infections
Chlamydial infections (NEC)||
20,330
24,043
30,439
36,227
41,311
104.3
122.4
153.1
180.1
203.2
Donovanosis
32
17
16
10
13
0.2
0.1
0.1
0.0
0.1
Gonococcal infection
6,291
6,279
6,792
7,187
8,015
32.3
32.0
34.2
35.7
39.4
Syphilis (all)
1,851
1,958
2,007
2,332
2,203
9.5
10.0
10.1
11.6
10.8
   Syphilis < 2 years duration
0
0
0
615
621
0.0
0.0
0.0
3.1
3.1
  Syphilis > 2 years or unknown duration
1,851
1,958
2,007
1,717
1,582
9.5
10.0
10.1
8.5
7.8
Syphilis – congenital
21
18
13
12
15
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
Vaccine preventable diseases
Diphtheria
1
0
0
0
0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
Haemophilus influenzae type b
20
30
19
15
17
0.1
0.2
0.1
0.1
0.1
Influenza (laboratory confirmed)**
1,294
3,652
3,483
2,133
4,567
6.6
18.6
17.5
10.6
22.5
Measles
141
32
93
45
10
0.7
0.2
0.5
0.2
0.0
Mumps
116
67
77
102
241
0.6
0.3
0.4
0.5
1.2
Pertussis
9,506
5,407
5,096
8,752
11,200
48.8
27.5
25.6
43.5
55.1
Poliomyelitis
0
0
0
0
0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
Pneumococcal disease (invasive)
1,761
2,432
2,238
2,296
1,684
9.0
12.4
11.3
11.4
8.3
Rubella
264
254
54
31
31
1.4
1.3
0.3
0.2
0.2
Rubella – congenital
0
1
3
1
1
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
Tetanus
3
4
4
5
2
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
Vectorborne diseases
Barmah Forest virus infection
1,143
867
1,369
1,106
1,319
5.9
4.4
6.9
5.5
6.5
Dengue
131
165
860
351
218
0.7
0.8
4.3
1.7
1.1
Flavivirus infection (NEC)††
88
72
60
61
29
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.3
0.1
Japanese encephalitis virus
0
0
1
1
0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
Kunjin virus‡‡
5
0
18
12
1
0.0
0.0
0.1
0.1
0.0
Malaria
719
462
595
558
822
3.7
2.4
3.0
2.8
4.0
Murray Valley encephalitis virus
6
2
0
1
2
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
Ross River virus infection
3,226
1,451
3,850
4,210
2,544
16.6
7.4
19.4
20.9
12.5
Zoonoses
Anthrax
0
0
0
0
0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
Australian bat lyssavirus
0
0
0
0
0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
Brucellosis
21
40
20
39
41
0.1
0.2
0.1
0.2
0.2
Leptospirosis
250
159
127
177
130
1.3
0.8
0.6
0.9
0.6
Ornithosis§§
137
199
199
237
161
0.7
1.0
1.0
1.2
0.792
Lyssavirusunspecified
0
0
0
0
0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
Q fever
693
762
562
463
355
3.6
3.9
2.8
2.3
1.7
Other bacterial infections
Legionellosis
310
313
333
312
335
1.6
1.6
1.7
1.6
1.6
Leprosy
10
6
5
7
10
0.1
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
Meningococcal infection||||
686
681
558
405
394
3.5
3.5
2.8
2.0
1.9
Tuberculosis
932
1,041
959
1,061
1,087
4.8
5.3
4.8
5.3
5.3
Total
104,648
98,884
104,942
113,912
125,461
         

* Unspecified hepatitis includes cases in whom the duration of infection could not be determined.

† In Queensland, includes incident hepatitis cases.

‡ Notified as 'foodborne disease' or 'gastroenteritis in an institution' in New South Wales.

§ Infection with Shiga-like toxin-/verotoxin-producing Escherchia coli (SLTEC/VTEC).

|| Includes Chlamydia trachomatis identified from cervical, rectal, urine, urethral, throat and eye samples, except for South Australia which reports only genital tract specimens; the Northern Territory which excludes ocular specimens; and Western Australia which excludes ocular and perinatal infections.

¶ Does not include congenital syphilis.

** Laboratory-confirmed influenza is not a notifiable disease in South Australia but reports are forwarded to NNDSS.

†† Flavivirus (NEC) replaced Arbovirus (NEC) from 1 January 2004.

‡‡ In the Australian Capital Territory, Murray Valley encephalitis virus and Kunjin virus are combined under Murray Valley encephalitis virus.

§§ In the Australian Capital Territory, ornithosis is reported as chlamydia not elsewhere classified.

|||| Only invasive meningococcal disease is nationally notifiable. However, New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and South Australia also report conjunctival cases.

NN Not notifiable.

NEC Not elsewhere classified.

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In 2005, the total number of notifications was the highest recorded in NNDSS since the system began in 1991. There was an increase of 10% compared to the total number of notifications in 2004 (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Trends in notifications received by the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System, Australia, 1991 to 2005

Figure 2. Trends in notifications received by the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System, Australia, 1991 to 2005

In 2005, the most frequently notified diseases were sexually transmissible infections (51,557 notifications, 41% of total notifications), gastrointestinal diseases (29,422 notifications, 23%) and bloodborne diseases (19,278 notifications, 15%).

There were 17,753 notifications of vaccine preventable diseases; 4,935 notifications of vectorborne diseases; 1,826 notification of other bacterial infections and 687 notifications of zoonotic diseases (Figure 3).

Figure 3. Notifications to the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System, Australia, 2005, by disease category

Figure 3. Notifications to the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System, Australia, 2005, by disease category

The major changes in communicable disease notifications in 2005 are shown in Figure 4 as the ratio of notifications in 2005 to the mean number of notifications for the previous 5 years. The number of notifications of chlamydial, gonococcal, shigellosis, mumps, pertussis, SLTEC/VTEC and hepatitis E infections surpassed the expected range (5-year mean plus 2 standard deviations). Notifications of hepatitis B (incident), Q fever, flavivirus and listeriosis infections were below the expected range (5-year mean minus 2 standard deviations). Notifications for the remaining diseases were within the historical range.

Figure 4. Comparison of total notifications of selected diseases reported to the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System in 2005, with the previous 5-year mean

Figure 4. Comparison of total notifications of selected diseases reported to the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System in 2005, with the previous 5-year mean

* Number of notifications surpassed the expected range (i.e. 5-year mean +2 standard deviations).

† Number of notifications was less than the expected range (i.e. 5-year mean –2 standard deviations).

In the financial year 2004–05, there were 87,520 hospital separations in Australian hospitals with a primary diagnosis of infectious diseases (International Classification of Diseases, version 10, Australian Modification (ICD10–AM) codes A01–B99, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare). This represents 1.2% of all hospital separations in that period. A further 65,494 separations were recorded with a principal diagnosis of influenza or pneumonia (ICD10–AM J10–J18).1

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