Fortnightly summary notes

National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System current CDNA fortnightly report

The Communicable Diseases Network Australia (CDNA) holds fortnightly teleconferences to share and evaluate the latest information and developments in communicable diseases surveillance. This report provides a fortnightly summary on diseases of current interest and notifications of Australia's nationally notifiable diseases.

Fortnight 2: 16 to 29 January January 2010

NNDSS report print friendly version (PDF 40 KB)

If you are unable to download the PDF file please email: epi AT health.gov.au

Summary notes

Hepatitis A

Between 16 and 29 January 2010, there were 13 notifications of hepatitis A, compared with 1 during the same period in 2009. In the last 90 day,¹ there were 179 notifications of hepatitis A, a ratio of 3.1 compared with the five year rolling mean² of 57.2 notifications for the same period. These cases were reported from the Australian Capital Territory (1), New South Wales (2), Queensland (2), South Australia (1), Victoria (4) and Western Australia (3).

The increased notifications of hepatitis A are in part due to the current multi-jurisdictional outbreak of locally-acquired hepatitis A associated with the consumption of semi-dried tomatoes. The number of new notifications associated with this outbreak has been decreasing since 8 November 2009.

STEC

Between 16 and 29 January 2010, there were 13 notifications of STEC, compared with 1 during the same period of 2009. In the last 90 days,¹ there were 61 notifications of STEC, a ratio of 2.0 compared with the five year rolling mean² of 30 notifications for the same period. The majority of these cases were reported from New South Wales (4), Queensland (3), South Australia (3), and Victoria (3).

STEC infections in Australia have a seasonal association, with notifications tending to increase during the warmer months (November to April). Every case of STEC is followed up by OzFoodNet Epidemiologists.

Typhoid

Between 16 and 29 January 2010, there were four notifications of typhoid, compared to 2 notifications during the same period of 2009. In the last 90 days,¹ there were 31 notifications of typhoid, a ratio of 1.6 compared with the five year rolling mean² of 18.8 notifications for the same period.

Typhoid infections in Australia are typically overseas acquired, with 93% cases in 2008 (the latest available data) known to have been acquired overseas.

Influenza (laboratory confirmed)

Nationally there were 40 cases of laboratory confirmed influenza (seasonal strains and the pandemic (H1N1) 2009) notified this reporting period. Of these 17 were diagnosed in this period.

The Australian Influenza Surveillance Report contains surveillance data and analysis of seasonal influenza and pandemic (H1N1) 2009, and is available at: www.health.gov.au/flureport

The latest case numbers of pandemic (H1N1) 2009 can be found at: www.healthemergency.gov.au

Pertussis

This reporting period there were 900 notifications of pertussis reported to the NNDSS, with the majority of notifications received this period reported from South Australia (290) and Queensland (269). In the past 90 days¹ there have been 7,077 notifications which is 2.2 times the quarterly five year rolling mean.2 In the past year there have been 29,295 notifications which is 2.9 times the five year rolling mean.3 Nationally, pertussis notifications have decreased since reaching a peak in March 2009.

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Interpretative notes

Selected diseases are chosen each fortnight based on either exceeding two standard deviations from the 90 day and/or 365 day five year rolling mean or other disease issues of significance identified during the reporting period. All diseases reported are analysed by notification receive date. Data are extracted each Monday of a CDNA week.
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.
1. The past quarter (90 day) surveillance period includes the date range (1/11/2009 to 29/01/2010).
2. The quarterly (90 day) five year rolling mean is the average of 5 intervals of 90 days up to (29/01/2010). The ratio is the notification activity in the past quarter (90 days) compared with the five year rolling mean for the same period.
3. The past year (365 day) surveillance period includes the date range (30/01/2009 to 29/01/2010).
4. The yearly (365 day) five year rolling mean is the average of 5 intervals of 365 days up to (29/01/2010). The ratio is the notification activity in the past year (365 days) compared with the five year rolling mean for the same period.
The five year rolling mean and the ratio of notifications compared with the five year rolling mean should be interpreted with caution. Changes in surveillance practice, diagnostic techniques and reporting may contribute to increases or decreases in the total notifications received over a five year period. Ratios are to be taken as a crude measure of current disease activity and may reflect changes in reporting rather than changes in disease activity.

NNDSS provisional fortnightly report of notifications from states and territories for the period 16 to 29 January 2010

Disease	State or territory								Australia	YTD 2009	Previous period	Last year period	Past quarter1	Quarterly rolling 5 year mean2	Ratio past quarter/ 5 year mean*	Exceeded quarterly roling mean + 2SD) by	Past year3	Yearly rolling 5Yr mean4	Ratio past year/ 5 year mean*	Exceeded yearly rolling mean +2SD) by
	ACT	NSW	NT	Qld	SA	Tas	Vic	WA
Bloodborne diseases
Hepatitis (NEC)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0		0	0.6	0.0
Hepatitis B (incident)	0	1	0	3	0	0	0	1	5	12	7	4	49	61.6	0.8		194	276.8	0.7
Hepatitis B (unspecified)	3	27	0	38	6	1	43	33	151	447	295	184	1,694	1,489.4	1.1		7,768	6,378.8	1.2	702.2
Hepatitis C (incident)	0	1	0	NN	0	0	0	2	3	7	4	17	73	100.0	0.7		273	412.8	0.7
Hepatitis C (unspecified)	8	102	6	122	4	7	8	29	286	736	445	357	2,788	2,833.0	1.0		12,514	12,236.8	1.0
Hepatitis D	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	7.0	0.6		31	35.2	0.9
Gastrointestinal diseases
Botulism	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0.2	15.0	1.9	4	1.2	3.3	0.2
Campylobacteriosis	20	NN	4	210	51	8	248	95	636	1,380	732	665	4,121	4,583.8	0.9		15,911	16,006.4	1.0
Cryptosporidiosis	0	21	4	12	1	3	11	5	57	157	99	180	643	713.6	0.9		4,469	2,603.0	1.7	566.5
Haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS)	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	0	1	4	8.2	0.5		15	19.2	0.8
Hepatitis A	1	2	0	2	1	0	4	3	13	27	14	1	179	57.2	3.1	91.1	567	273.2	2.1	169.9
Hepatitis E	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	1	1	4	4.8	0.8		35	29.0	1.2
Listeriosis	0	1	0	0	0	0	2	0	3	8	5	2	22	14.8	1.5		93	59.4	1.6	25.5
STEC, VTEC	0	4	0	3	3	0	3	0	13	23	10	1	61	30.0	2.0	3.5	169	82.4	2.1	36.6
Salmonellosis	13	166	17	170	35	4	89	47	541	1,239	685	350	2,823	2,325.2	1.2	342.4	9,717	8,435.6	1.2
Shigellosis	0	4	3	9	1	0	8	6	31	61	30	32	144	156.8	0.9		630	646.4	1.0
Typhoid	0	2	0	0	0	0	1	1	4	12	8	2	31	18.8	1.6	4.8	108	79.2	1.4
Quarantinable diseases
Cholera	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.4	0.0		4	3.8	1.1
Highly pathogenic avian influenza in humans (HPAIH)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	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	0.0		0	0.0	0.0
Rabies	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	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	0.0		0	0.0	0.0
Smallpox	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0		0	0.0	0.0
Viral haemorrhagic fever (NEC)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	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	0.0		0	0.0	0.0
Sexually transmissible infections
Chlamydial infection	45	434	80	671	52	44	3	358	1,687	4,072	2,375	1,986	14,246	11,285.0	1.3		62,647	47,336.2	1.3
Donovanosis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.4	0.0		2	6.6	0.3
Gonococcal infection	1	39	47	63	4	0	15	45	214	632	416	312	1,880	1,860.2	1.0		8,010	7,902.8	1.0
Syphilis < 2 years†	1	0	2	5	0	0	3	4	15	66	50	26	276	215.6	1.3		1,195	984.4	1.2
Syphilis > 2 years or unspecified duration†	1	22	3	2	NDP	0	19	1	48	139	91	38	476	391.0	1.2	46.0	1,626	1,779.2	0.9
Syphilis - congenital	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	1	2.8	0.4		4	11.8	0.3
Vaccine preventable diseases
Diphtheria	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	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	1	1	0	2	5.4	0.4		20	19.6	1.0
Influenza (laboratory confirmed)§	0	7	0	15	4	2	3	9	40	100	69	45	619	515.6	1.2		53,398	5,907.4	9.0	-
Measles	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	1	11	11	11.8	0.9		94	53.2	1.7
Mumps	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	1	4	8	4	5	29	87.6	0.3		160	298.0	0.5
Pertussis	5	187	5	269	290	9	109	26	900	2,041	1,141	1,030	7,077	3,161.2	2.2		29,295	10,257.4	2.9	12,330.1
Pneumococcal disease (invasive)	0	7	1	5	4	0	2	3	22	76	54	17	327	299.8	1.1		1,559	1,708.4	0.9
Poliomyelitis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0		0	0.2	0.0
Rubella	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	2	3	8.8	0.5		23	38.8	0.6
Rubella - congenital	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0		0	0.8	0.0
Tetanus	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0.8	0.0		2	3.4	0.6
Varicella zoster (chickenpox)‡	0	NN	0	0	14	0	0	9	23	65	41	55	218	593.3	0.4		1,181	1,718.5	0.7
Varicella zoster (shingles)‡	0	NN	4	0	20	0	0	15	39	116	74	117	550	548.3	1.0		2,712	1,970.0	1.4
Varicella zoster (unspecified)‡	2	NN	0	167	33	16	0	43	261	567	297	272	1,788	1,146.3	1.6	106.0	6,772	4,498.5	1.5	1,729.0
Vectorborne diseases
Arbovirus infection (NEC)	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	2	4	6.4	0.6		26	33.0	0.8
Barmah Forest virus infection	1	13	10	42	0	0	0	7	73	118	44	67	329	347.8	0.9		1,489	1,682.8	0.9
Dengue virus infection	1	4	1	6	0	0	1	8	21	38	16	147	118	116.0	1.0		1,245	350.4	3.6	487.6
Japanese encephalitis virus infection	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.2	0.0		0	0.4	0.0
Kunjin virus infection	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.4	0.0		2	2.4	0.8
Malaria	0	2	1	9	0	0	1	2	15	28	13	35	101	140.8	0.7		507	651.0	0.8
Murray Valley encephalitis virus infection	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0		4	1.2	3.3	1.1
Ross River virus infection	0	13	21	30	5	2	5	17	93	166	72	179	610	872.2	0.7		4,637	4,429.4	1.0
Zoonoses
Anthrax	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0		0	0.4	0.0
Australian bat lyssavirus	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0		0	0.0	0.0
Brucellosis	0	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	3	5	2	3	10	14.6	0.7		32	44.4	0.7
Leptospirosis	0	0	0	1	0	0	2	0	3	4	1	10	16	23.2	0.7		138	135.2	1.0
Lyssavirus (NEC)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0		0	0.0	0.0
Ornithosis	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	1	4	5	1	3	17	31.8	0.5		64	152.0	0.4
Q fever	0	6	0	1	0	0	0	0	7	23	16	1	64	94.8	0.7		304	408.6	0.8
Tularaemia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0		0	0.0	0.0
Other bacterial infections
Legionellosis	0	3	0	2	0	0	0	1	6	16	10	12	70	84.8	0.8		300	313.6	1.0
Leprosy	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	3	2.4	1.3		6	9.8	0.6
Meningococcal infection (invasive)	0	4	0	0	0	0	1	3	8	23	15	9	68	69.2	1.0		257	337.8	0.8
Tuberculosis	0	4	4	10	2	0	12	5	37	146	106	25	487	310.8	1.6		1,290	1,141.4	1.2
Total	102	1,082	214	1,871	530	96	597	780	5,272	12,574	7,247	6,208	42,043				231,503

* Ratio of the past quarter 90 day prior surveillance period to the past 90 day 5 year rolling mean, or ratio of the past year 365 day prior surveillance period to the 365 day 5 year rolling mean.

† Ratios for syphilis < 2 years; syphilis > 2 years or unspecified duration are based on 5 years data.

‡ Ratios for varicella zoster (chickenpox); varicella zoster (shingles); and varicella zoster (unspecified) are based on 2 years data.

§ Influenza (laboratory confirmed) data includes combined numbers for both seasonal strains and the pandemic (H1N1) 2009 strain. Case numbers for pandemic (H1N1) 2009 are extracted from NetEpi for NSW and Vic and from NNDSS for all other jurisdictions, while numbers for seasonal strains are extracted from NNDSS for all jurisdictions. For specific case number updates for pandemic (H1N1) 2009 see www.healthemergency.gov.au

NN = Not notifiable,

NDP = No data provided,

NEC = Not elsewhere classified

Dates used are:
1. Past Quarter (90d prior surveillance period): 1/11/2009 to 29/01/2010
2. Quarterly rolling 5Yr Mean (90d 5Yr Mean):
Quarterly rolling 5Yr Mean (90d 5Yr Mean) 1: 1/11/2008 to 29/01/2009
Quarterly rolling 5Yr Mean (90d 5Yr Mean) 2: 31/10/2007 to 29/01/2008
Quarterly rolling 5Yr Mean (90d 5Yr Mean) 3: 1/11/2006 to 29/01/2007
Quarterly rolling 5Yr Mean (90d 5Yr Mean) 4: 1/11/2005 to 29/01/2006
Quarterly rolling 5Yr Mean (90d 5Yr Mean) 5: 1/11/2004 to 29/01/2005
3. Past year (365d prior surveillance period): 30/01/2009 to 29/01/2010
4. Yearly rolling 5Yr Mean (365d 5Yr Mean):
Yearly rolling 5Yr Mean (365d 5yr Mean)1: 31/01/2008 to 29/01/2009
Yearly rolling 5Yr Mean (365d 5yr Mean)2: 29/01/2007 to 29/01/2008
Yearly rolling 5Yr Mean (365d 5yr Mean)3: 30/01/2006 to 29/01/2007
Yearly rolling 5Yr Mean (365d 5yr Mean)4: 30/01/2005 to 29/01/2006
Yearly rolling 5Yr Mean (365d 5yr Mean)5: 31/01/2004 to 29/01/2005