Australia's notifiable diseases status, 2002: Annual report of the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System - Results: Table 4

Results, continued

Summary of 2002 data, continued

Trends in notifications and rates per 100,000 population for the period 1998 to 2002 are shown in Table 4.

Table 4. Notifications and notification rates (per 100,000 population) of communicable diseases, Australia, 1998 to 2002, by state or territory

* Analysis by date of onset, except for hepatitis B and hepatitis C unspecified, where analysis is by report date. Date of onset is a composite of three components: (i) the true onset date from a clinician, if available, (ii) the date the laboratory test was ordered, or (iii) the date reported to NNDSS.

† Unspecified hepatitis includes cases with hepatitis in whom the duration of illness cannot be determined.

‡ The analysis was performed by report date.

§ Includes hepatitis C incident in the Northern Territory and Queensland.

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

¶ Infections with Shiga-like toxin (verotoxin) producing Escherichia coli (SLTEC/VTEC).

** Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia: includes gonococcal neonatal ophthalmia.

†† Includes 14 cases of congenital syphilis, one from New South Wales and 13 from the Northern Territory.

‡‡ Includes congenital rubella.

NN Not notifiable.

NEC Not elsewhere classified.

-Elsewhere classified

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During 2001 nine diseases were added to the list of nationally notifiable diseases while four were removed. Although the first full-year of notifications of the newly added diseases was received in 2002, the total number of notifications was lower by 4 per cent than in 2001 (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Trends in notifications received by the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System, Australia, 1991 to 2002

In 2002, sexually transmitted infections were the most frequently notified diseases (31,933 reports, 32% of total notifications) followed by gastrointestinal diseases (26,708 reports, 27% of total notifications) and bloodborne diseases (23,741, 24%) (Figure 3). By contrast, in 2001, bloodborne diseases were the most frequently notified diseases.

Figure 3. Notifications to the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System, Australia, 2002, by disease category*

* Excluding quarantinable diseases (n=5)

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The major changes in communicable disease notifications in 2002 are shown in Figure 4, as the ratio of notifications in 2002 to the mean number of notifications for the previous five years. Chlamydial infection and Q fever infection notifications in 2002 were highest since 1997 and surpassed the expected range (5-year mean plus two standard deviations). Notifications of hepatitis A and measles infections in 2002 were the lowest since 1997 and were below the expected range (5-year mean minus two 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 2002, with the previous five-year mean

* Notifications below the 5-year mean minus two standard deviations.

† Notifications above the 5-year mean plus two standard deviations.

In the financial year 2001-02, there were 91,911 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 1.4 per cent of all hospital separations in that period. A further 62,917 separations were recorded with a principal diagnosis of influenza or pneumonia (ICD10-AM J10-J18).