While pandemics like the Black Plague which wiped out one third of the population of Europe in the 14th Century are no longer a threat, the modern world still faces a myriad of new and exotic diseases and the remergence of old diseases which are now antibiotic resistant, according to Federal Health Minister, Dr Michael Wooldridge.

Opening the first national Conference on the Control of Communicable Diseases in Australia, held today in Canberra, Dr Wooldridge said unlike citizens of 14th century Europe who carried a pocket full of posy to ward off the plague, communicable diseases are better controlled today because of our capacity to prevent diseases and to stop them spreading.

"The difference lies in the capacity of science to identify diseases and to find new ways to prevent them," Dr Wooldridge said.

"It lies too in the capacity for our epidemiologists and public health experts to put in place the measures that can make a crucial difference to the health of communities and whole nations."

Dr Wooldridge said one such initiative in Australia is the Measles Control Campaign, now in its closing stages, which has seen more than one million children vaccinated against measles in their schools and many more children immunised by GPs.

"Just under three years ago Australia languished 68th in the world, with only 53 per cent of children fully immunised up to the age of five.

"Now the latest figures show that some 80 per cent of one year old children are fully immunised which puts Australia on track to reach the Federal Government's target rate of 95 per cent fully immunised by the year 2000," he said.

The few people who argue against immunisation promote views that have the same scientific validity as saying poseys would ward off the Black Death, but unfortunately these dubious views have held currency in the minds of some Australian parents.

"Happily the latest statistics show a remarkable turnaround in action by parents to have their children immunised," he said.

Dr Wooldridge said it was timely for Australia to hold a conference on the control of communicable diseases with recent publicity about legionnaires disease, vancomyacin resistant enterocci (VRE) and the discovery of Japanese Encephalitis (JE) in mainland Australia for the very first time earlier this year.

"I am pleased to announce that the Federal Government is accepting the recent recommendation of the National Health and Medical Research Council to place Japanese Encephalitis vaccine on the Standard Australian Vaccination Schedule for all children aged one year and older who live in areas of known risk for JE.

"This will assist the Queensland Government to carry out its vital vaccination program in the Torres Strait and to hopefully prevent the spread of this deadly disease," he said.

Dr Wooldridge said that recent outbreaks of Vancomyacin Resistant Enterococcus, which affected patients in five Victorian hospitals, served as a warning that health professionals and governments need to be more rigorous in improving standards of infection control.

"Right now, through the Communicable Diseases Network and the National Centre for Disease Control, we are reviewing the national guidelines on infection control.

"I am also looking forward to the NHMRC's Joint Expert Technical Advisory Committee on Antibiotics, known as JETACAR, which is looking at another major area of communicable diseases concern - antibiotic resistant bacteria.

"The overuse and misuse of antibiotics, in particular broad-spectrum antibiotics, is a major contributing factor in the evolution of antibiotic resistance.

"The emergence of antibiotic resistant organisms reinforces the need to base the prescribing and use of drugs on a strong foundation of clinical evidence," he said.

Dr Wooldridge said there are still enormous public health challenges facing Australia despite huge advances in medical science, but that he was confident these are being successfully addressed in a coordinated and evidence based national effort under the direction of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in the Department of Health and Aged Care, guided by the Communicable Diseases Network of Australia and New Zealand (CDNANZ) which comprises Australia's top infectious diseases experts from all States and Territories and the Ministry of Health in New Zealand.

"The calibre of delegates and speakers at this conference assures me that Australia will not be left behind clutching at posies to ward off disease but can hold on to the principles that have already seen such advances in scientific and medical knowledge and the capacity they bring with them to provide healing and protection to communities and whole nations," he said.

EDITORS NOTE: Japanese Encephalitis (JE) is a rare tropical disease which occurs on a seasonal basis. The first case on mainland Australia occurred in March 1998. The children most at risk are in the Torres Strait Islands where four of the five cases to date have occurred.

Media Contact:
Bill Royce, Dr Wooldridge's Office 02 6277 7220 or 0412 137 699
Kay McNiece, National Centre for Disease Control, Dept. Health and Aged Care 02 6289 6996