About the NNDSS
The NNDSS coordinates national surveillance data for diseases on the National Notifiable Disease List. These notifiable diseases are those that present a risk to public health if there is an outbreak.
Every day, the state and territory health authorities advise us of new cases of those notifiable diseases.
Data reports
We collate, analyse and publish this information in our:
- National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS) data visualisation tool
- fortnightly reports
- annual reports in the Communicable Diseases Intelligence journal
- datasets for selected diseases from 2009 to 2019.
Why the NNDSS is important
By keeping track of notifiable diseases, the NNDSS enables us to:
- identify national trends and outbreaks
- respond to potential outbreaks
- support quarantine activities
- develop public health policy to reduce their incidence and impact
- allocate resources where they are needed most
- track our progress towards eradicating these diseases over time
- meet international reporting requirements, such as providing disease statistics to the World Health Organization.
Data collection
Every day, the state and territory health authorities supply the NNDSS with de-identified notification data about new cases of notifiable diseases.
This data includes:
- a unique record reference number
- a state or territory identifier
- a disease code
- the date of onset
- the date of notification to the health authority
- sex of the case
- age of the case
- Indigenous status of the case
- postcode where the case lives
The quality and completeness of the information we receive varies, because:
- notifications come from various sources, including clinicians, laboratories and hospitals
- states and territories have different ways for these sources to report cases
- some people may choose to not provide all relevant information to health authorities.
We continuously aim to improve the national consistency of reporting by working with:
- state and territory health authorities
- national committees, such as the Communicable Diseases Network Australia and National Surveillance Committee.
Diseases on the National Notifiable Disease List
The NNDSS keeps track of the following nationally notifiable diseases.
Bloodborne diseases
- Hepatitis B (newly acquired and unspecified)
- Hepatitis C (newly acquired and unspecified)
- Hepatitis D
Gastrointestinal diseases
- Botulism
- Campylobacteriosis
- Cholera
- Cryptosporidiosis
- Haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS)
- Hepatitis A
- Hepatitis E
- Listeriosis
- Paratyphoid fever
- Salmonellosis
- Shiga toxin-producing E. Coli (STEC) or Verotoxin‑producing E. Coli (VTEC)
- Shigellosis
- Typhoid fever
Listed human diseases
Listed human diseases are those listed in the Biosecurity (Listed Human Diseases) Determination 2016. Human influenza with pandemic potential is a listed human disease, but is nationally notifiable under ‘influenza (laboratory confirmed)’.
- Human influenza with pandemic potential
- Human coronavirus with pandemic potential
- Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS)
- Plague
- Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)
- Smallpox
- Viral haemorrhagic fevers
- Yellow fever
Sexually transmissible infections
- Chlamydia
- Donovanosis
- Gonococcal infection
- Syphilis (congenital, less than 2 years duration, or more than 2 years or unspecified duration)
Vaccine preventable diseases
- Diphtheria
- Haemophilus influenzae type b
- Measles
- Meningococcal disease – invasive
- Mumps
- Pneumococcal disease (invasive)
- Poliovirus infection
- Rotavirus
- Rubella (including congenital rubella)
- Tetanus
- Varicella zoster infection (including chickenpox, shingles and unspecified Varicella zoster infection)
Respiratory diseases
- Influenza (laboratory confirmed)
- Legionellosis
- Pertussis
- Respiratory syncytial virus infection (RSV)
- Tuberculosis
Vectorborne diseases
- Barmah Forest virus infection
- Chikungunya virus infection
- Dengue virus infection
- Flavivirus infection (unspecified)
- Japanese encephalitis virus infection
- Malaria
- Murray Valley encephalitis virus infection
- Ross River virus infection
- West Nile/Kunjin virus infection
Zoonoses
- Avian influenza in humans (AIH)
- Anthrax
- Australian bat lyssavirus infection
- Brucellosis
- Leptospirosis
- Lyssavirus infection (not elsewhere classified)
- Monkeypox virus (MPXV) infection
- Psittacosis (also known as ornithosis)
- Q fever
- Rabies
- Tularaemia
Other notifiable diseases
Diseases under national surveillance by other organisations
The Australian National Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Registry and the Kirby Institute are also monitoring:
- Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD)
- Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD)
- Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
This information helps to complement NNDSS data.
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