A print friendly PDF version is available from this Communicable Diseases Intelligence issue's table of contents.

National influenza surveillance | HIV and AIDS surveillance

National Influenza Surveillance, 1999

Three types of data are included in National Influenza Surveillance, 1999. These are sentinel general practitioner surveillance conducted by the Australian Sentinel Practice Research Network, Department of Human Services (Victoria), Department of Health (New South Wales) and the Tropical Influenza Surveillance Scheme, Territory Health (Northern Territory); laboratory surveillance data from the Communicable Diseases Intelligence Virology and Serology Laboratory Reporting Scheme, LabVISE, and the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Influenza Reference and Research; and absenteeism surveillance conducted by Australia Post. For further information about these schemes, see Commun Dis Intell 1999;23:56.

Sentinel general practitioner surveillance

Over the last 4 week reporting period up until 8 1999 reports of influenza consultations were provided from ASPREN and the Victorian Sentinel Scheme. Reports were not available from The Tropical Influenza Surveillance Program (NT) due to the management of the Timorese refugees and reports were not available from the NSW Sentinel Scheme for the last week of the reporting period. From the available data the rate of reports of influenza consultations had a consistent downward trend. By the end of the period the rate of reports of influenza consultations had reached 7/1,000 for ASPREN, 2/1,000 for the Victorian Sentinel Scheme and 16/1,000 for the NSW Sentinel Surveillance Scheme. The rates for ASPREN and the Victorian Sentinel Scheme were returning to levels seen in late April to early May of this year (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Sentinel general practitioner influenza consultation rates, 1999, by scheme


Top of page

Laboratory surveillance

For the year to date a total of 1,442 laboratory reports of influenza have been received. Of these 1,323 (92%) were influenza A and 119 (8%) influenza B. The trend in the number of laboratory reports was downwards, consistent with the trend in the clinical notifications (Figure 3). The number of influenza A reports to date is again less than the previously recorded high noted in 1998 (Figure 4).

Figure 3. Laboratory reports of influenza, 1999, by type and by week of specimen collection



Figure 4. Laboratory reports of influenza, 1998-99, by month of specimen collection

Absenteeism surveillance

The average rate for the last 4 week reporting period were 0.95% and the maximum rate was 1.0%. The rates show a plateauing of the upwards trend noted in previous reports but again a marked increase compared to a similar period in 1998 (Figure 5).

Figure 5. Absenteeism rates in Australia Post, 1999



Top of page

HIV and AIDS Surveillance

National surveillance for HIV disease is coordinated by the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research (NCHECR), in collaboration with State and Territory health authorities and the Commonwealth of Australia. Cases of HIV infection are notified to the National HIV Database on the first occasion of diagnosis in Australia, by either the diagnosing laboratory (ACT, New South Wales, Tasmania, Victoria) or by a combination of laboratory and doctor sources (Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia). Cases of AIDS are notified through the State and Territory health authorities to the National AIDS Registry. Diagnoses of both HIV infection and AIDS are notified with the person's date of birth and name code, to minimise duplicate notifications while maintaining confidentiality.

Tabulations of diagnoses of HIV infection and AIDS are based on data available three months after the end of the reporting interval indicated, to allow for reporting delay and to incorporate newly available information. More detailed information on diagnoses of HIV infection and AIDS is published in the quarterly Australian HIV Surveillance Report, and annually in HIV/AIDS and related diseases in Australia Annual Surveillance Report. The reports are available from the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research, 376 Victoria Street, Darlinghurst NSW 2010. Telephone: (02) 9332 4648; Facsimile: (02) 9332 1837; http://www.med.unsw.edu.au/nchecr.

HIV and AIDS diagnoses and deaths following AIDS reported for 1 to 30 June 1999, as reported to 30 September 1999, are included in this issue of CDI (Tables 6 and 7).

Table 6. New diagnoses of HIV infection, new diagnoses of AIDS and deaths following AIDS occurring in the period 1 to 30 June 1999, by sex and State or Territory of diagnosis

		ACT	NSW	NT	Qld	SA	Tas	Vic	WA	Totals for Australia
										This period 1999	This period 1998	Year to date 1999	Year to date 1998
HIV diagnoses	Female	1	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	3	5	34	39
	Male	0	14	0	4	1	0	10	0	29	48	272	333
	Sex not reported	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	5
	Total1	0	18	0	4	1	0	11	0	34	53	308	377
AIDS diagnoses	Female	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	7
	Male	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	25	41	146
	Total1	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	26	44	153
AIDS deaths	Female	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	4
	Male	0	2	0	1	0	0	2	0	5	13	40	72
	Total1	0	2	0	1	0	0	2	0	5	15	42	76

1. Persons whose sex was reported as transgender are included in the totals

Table 7. Cumulative diagnoses of HIV infection, AIDS and deaths following AIDS since the introduction of HIV antibody testing to 30 June 1999, by sex and State or Territory

		State or Territory								Australia
		ACT	NSW	NT	Qld	SA	Tas	Vic	WA
HIV diagnoses	Female	24	591	9	138	57	5	206	109	1,139
	Male	189	10,630	107	1,908	655	79	3,813	884	18,265
	Sex not reported	0	260	0	0	0	0	24	0	284
	Total1	213	11,500	116	2,053	712	84	4,056	996	19,730
AIDS diagnoses	Female	8	173	0	46	21	3	67	26	344
	Male	85	4,546	35	794	330	44	1,595	344	7,773
	Total1	93	4,731	35	842	351	47	1,669	372	8,140
AIDS deaths	Female	3	113	0	30	15	2	47	16	226
	Male	64	3,135	24	557	227	28	1,250	245	5,530
	Total1	67	3,256	24	589	242	30	1,303	262	5,773

1. Persons whose sex was reported as transgender are included in the totals

This article was published in Communicable Diseases Intelligence Volume 23, No 10, 30 September 1999.