Communicable Diseases Report
Communicable Disease Report 23 to 29 April 2012
In summary, we report:
For information on other communicable diseases in NSW, see the A-Z of Infectious diseases and the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System fortnightly report for Australian data.
Note: click on the heading of each section to see a fact sheet.
Measles [new]
In NSW, three laboratory confirmed measles cases were reported in April. The index case was a young adult who became ill after returning from a trip to Thailand. Two locally-acquired measles cases linked to the index case have subsequently been reported. One case was confirmed in an infant under 12 months of age and the other a young adult. The public health investigation of these cases is ongoing and a number of other close contacts at risk of infection are being actively followed up.
Measles is a serious and highly contagious disease that is spread from person to person. Travellers who have not been vaccinated are at risk of getting the disease and spreading it to infants who are too young to be immunised, and to their friends and family members who may not be up to date with their vaccinations.
Measles immunisation is highly effective in preventing the disease. All children and adults born during or after 1966 should be vaccinated with two doses of the measles-containing MMR vaccine if not already immune.
Click on the link for updated measles data.
Gastroenteritis [update]
Gastrointestinal Illness Emergency Department Surveillance (includes gastroenteritis, vomiting, diarrhoea, and food poisoning):
In NSW, the number of patients presenting with gastrointestinal illness was steady compared with the previous week. (Figure 1). Counts were within the usual range for this time of year.
Figure 1. Total weekly counts of Emergency Department visits for gastrointestinal illness, from January – April 2012 (black line), compared with each of the five previous years (coloured lines), for 59 NSW hospitals.
Click on the link for information on preventing gastroenteritis and for more information about the NSW Food Authority, visit their website: http://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/ .
Influenza [update]
Influenza-like Illness Emergency Department Surveillance:
In NSW, in the last week, the number of patients presenting with influenza-like illness was steady compared with the previous week (Figure 2). Counts were within the usual range for this time of year.
Overall, the number of patients presenting with any respiratory illness decreased compared with the previous week, with counts within the usual range for this time of year.
Figure 2. Total weekly counts of Emergency Department visits for influenza-like illness, from January – April 2012 (black line), compared with each of the five previous years (coloured lines) excluding 2009, for 59 NSW hospitals.
Click on the link for updated influenza information.
Summary of notifiable conditions activity in NSW [update]
The following table summarises notifiable conditions activity over the reporting period (Table 1).
Table 1. NSW Notifiable Conditions activity for the period 23 to 29 April 2012 (by date reported).
Note: Data cells represent the number of case reports received by NSW Public Health Units and recorded on the NSW Notifiable Conditions Information Management System (NCIMS) in the relevant period. These data are subject to change without notice.
Only conditions for which at least one case report was received appear in the table. HIV and other blood-borne virus case reports are not included here. Notification data by disease are available from the Infectious Diseases Data webpage.