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Communicable diseases are those diseases capable of being transmitted from one person to another, or from one species to another. Two major groups of communicable diseases, classified in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10), are infectious and parasitic diseases (ICD-10 codes A00-B99) and acute respiratory infections (ICD-10 codes J00-J22) which includes influenza and pneumonia as well as other acute upper and lower respiratory infections. In 2001, these two groups accounted for 3.6% of all deaths in Australia (4,444 deaths). Influenza and pneumonia accounted for 61% (2,702) of these deaths. Death rates increase with age, and were greater for males than females in most age groups. In 2000-01, there were 89,318 hospital separations in Australia with a principal diagnosis of infectious and parasitic diseases. Acute respiratory infections including influenza and pneumonia were responsible for a further 122,601 separations.

Under the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS), state and territory health authorities submit reports of more than 50 communicable disease notifications for compilation by the Department of Health and Ageing. In 2001, the diseases reported to NNDSS were revised to include cryptosporidiosis, influenza, pneumococcal disease, Japanese encephalitis, Kunjin virus, Murray Valley encephalitis, anthrax, Australian bat lyssavirus, and other lyssavirus infections. At the same time, diseases that were becoming rare or of less public health significance in Australia, namely chancroid, lymphogranuloma venereum, hydatid disease and yersiniosis were removed from the NNDSS.

The provisional total of notifications to NNDSS in 2002 is 101,319, a small decrease (2.7%) on the 104,125 notifications in 2001 (table 9.19). In 2002, sexually transmitted infections (STI) were the most commonly reported communicable diseases, accounting for 32% of all notifications, followed by gastrointestinal diseases (26%) and blood-borne diseases (24%). Chlamydia was the most common STI (24,011 notifications, 74% of total STIs), campylobacteriosis the most common gastroenteritis (14,571 notifications, 55% of total) and hepatitis C (unspecified) was the most common blood-borne disease (15,981 notifications, 67% of total). Compared with 2001, there were increases in notifications of STIs due mainly to increases in chlamydia; while there were decreases in reports of blood borne diseases, gastrointestinal diseases and vaccine preventable diseases.

9.19 NATIONAL NOTIFIABLE DISEASE SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM REPORTS
		Notifications				Rate per 100,000 population(a)
		2000(b)	2001(b)	2002(c)		2000(b)	2001(b)	2002(c)
Disease(d)		no.	no.	no.
Blood-borne diseases
	Hepatitis B (incident)	399	428	426		2.1	2.2	2.2
	Hepatitis B (unspecified)	7,908	8,413	6,916		41.3	43.3	35.2
	Hepatitis C (incident)	357	669	481		1.9	3.4	2.4
	Hepatitis C (unspecified)	19,647	19,543	15,981		102.6	100.7	81.3
	Hepatitis D	27	20	20		0.1	0.1	0.1
	Hepatitis n.e.c.	1	2	-		-	-	-
Gastrointestinal diseases
	Botulism	2	2	-		-	-	-
	Campylobacteriosis	13,528	16,038	14,571		70.6	82.6	74.1
	Cryptosporidiosis	. .	1,567	3,256		. .	8.1	16.6
	Haemolytic uraemic syndrome	10	10	13		0.1	0.1	0.1
	Hepatitis A	834	521	395		4.4	2.7	2.0
	Hepatitis E	7	13	12		-	0.1	0.1
	Listeriosis	66	61	60		0.3	0.3	0.3
	Salmonellosis	6,111	7,085	7,748		31.9	36.5	39.4
	Shigellosis	487	566	498		2.5	2.9	2.5
	SLTEC, VTEC(e)	41	47	52		0.2	0.2	0.3
	Typhoid	59	84	72		0.3	0.4	0.4
	Yersiniosis	74	. .	. .		0.4	. .	. .
Quarantinable diseases
	Cholera	1	4	5		-	-	-
Sexually transmissable diseases
	Chlamydial infection	16,770	20,222	24,011		87.6	104.2	122.1
	Donovanosis	13	38	19		0.1	0.2	0.1
	Gonococcal infection	5,708	6,232	6,247		29.8	32.1	31.8
	Syphilis	1,780	1,407	2,103		9.3	7.2	10.7
Vaccine preventable diseases
	Diphtheria	-	1	-		-	-	-
	Haemophilus influenzae type b	28	26	29		0.1	0.1	0.1
	Influenza	. .	1,286	3,668		. .	6.6	18.7
	Measles	108	135	36		0.6	0.7	0.2
	Mumps	214	114	74		1.1	0.6	0.4
	Pertussis	5,814	9,085	5,842		30.4	46.8	29.7
	Pneumococcal disease	. .	1,650	2,317		..	8.5	11.8
	Rubella	319	268	252		1.7	1.4	1.3
	Tetanus	7	3	2		-	-	-
Vector-borne diseases
	Arbovirus infection n.e.c.	55	34	20		0.3	0.2	0.1
	Barmah Forest virus infection	624	1,158	904		3.3	6.0	4.6
	Dengue	232	178	224		1.2	0.9	1.1
	Kunjin virus	. .	4	-		. .	-	-
	Malaria	959	715	477		5.0	3.7	2.4
	Murray Valley encephalitis	9	6	2		-	-	-
	Ross River virus infection	4,272	3,353	1,457		22.3	17.3	7.4
Zoonoses
	Brucellosis	26	21	39		0.1	0.1	0.2
	Hydatid infection	25	. .	. .		0.1	. .	. .
	Leptospirosis	243	245	156		1.3	1.3	0.8
	Ornithosis	103	145	204		0.5	0.7	1.0
	Q fever	523	738	764		2.7	3.8	3.9
Other diseases
	Legionnellosis	469	315	327		2.4	1.6	1.7
	Leprosy	5	3	6		-	-	-
	Meningococcal infection	621	679	681		3.2	3.5	3.5
	Tuberculosis	1,062	991	952		5.5	5.1	4.8
Total		89,548	104,125	101,319		467.5	536.4	515.3
(a) Rate per 100,000 population is calculated using the estimated resident population at the midpoint (30 June) of the relevant calendar year. (b) NNDSS data for 2000 and 2001 revised after consultations with states and territories. (c) Notifications data for the year 2002 were provisional at the date of analysis (22 July 2003). (d) Diseases reported to NNDSS from all jurisdictions except hepatitis B (unspecified) not reported from NT; incident hepatitis C not reported from Qld; campylobacteriosis not reported from NSW; donovanosis not reported from SA. Diseases under surveillance for which no notifications were received in the period 1999-2001 were plague, rabies, viral haemorrhagic fever, yellow fever, chancroid, lymphogranuloma venereum, poliomyelitis, Japanese encephalitis, anthrax, Australian bat lyssavirus, other lyssavirus n.e.c. (e) SLTEC/VTEC is shiga-like toxins and verotoxin producing E. coli infections.
Source: DoHA 2003.

9.20 NEWLY DIAGNOSED HIV CASES(a), AIDS CASES AND DEATHS FOLLOWING AIDS(b)
	Year of diagnosis(c)
	Prior to 1994	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	Total
HIV cases(a)	15,044	1,017	930	918	821	759	724	745	761	823	22,550
AIDS cases(b)	5,061	953	810	669	382	318	193	252	199	246	9,083
AIDS deaths(b)	3,496	753	655	515	245	156	127	134	100	91	6,272
(a) Not adjusted for multiple reporting. Total includes 8 cases for which the date of HIV diagnosis was not reported. (b) AIDS cases diagnosed and deaths following AIDS in 2000, 2001 and 2002 were adjusted for reporting delays; AIDS cases diagnosed and deaths following AIDS in previous years were assumed to be completely reported. (c) The number of HIV/AIDS diagnoses for each year may be revised over time due to late reports, updated information on exposure and testing history for reported cases, and removal of previously unrecognised duplicate diagnoses.
Source: National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research, 'HIV/AIDS, viral hepatitis and sexually transmissible infections in Australia Annual Surveillance Report 2003', National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2003.

9.21 CHARACTERISTICS OF CASES OF NEWLY DIAGNOSED HIV INFECTION(a), Number of cases and proportion of total cases
			Year of diagnosis(b)
		Units	Prior to 1994	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	Total(c)
Total cases		no.	15,044	1,017	930	918	821	759	724	745	761	823	22,550
Males		%	93.6	90.8	91.9	91.4	89.4	87.1	89.6	89.3	87.8	88.3	92.3
State/territory
	New South Wales	%	60.3	49.8	57.9	50.0	53.0	53.5	52.8	48.3	44.9	47.1	57.2
	Victoria	%	20.4	21.2	17.6	20.5	21.9	18.4	19.2	25.2	27.2	26.5	20.9
	Queensland	%	8.9	15.9	11.9	16.7	13.8	13.8	17.3	15.3	13.7	15.8	10.9
	South Australia	%	3.5	3.7	3.3	5.0	4.1	4.6	3.0	3.1	5.7	3.2	3.6
	Western Australia	%	4.8	7.3	6.5	6.2	4.9	6.6	5.5	6.2	6.4	5.2	5.2
	Tasmania	%	0.4	0.2	0.6	0.3	-	0.4	0.4	-	0.7	0.6	0.4
	Northern Territory	%	0.5	0.5	0.2	0.5	1.3	1.6	0.7	0.4	0.5	1.0	0.6
	Australian Capital Territory	%	1.2	1.4	1.9	0.8	1.0	1.0	1.1	1.5	0.9	0.6	1.2
Exposure category(d)
	Male homosexual contact	%	81.2	74.4	73.7	75.5	72.8	65.5	65.5	68.2	66.5	71.3	77.4
	Male homosexual contact and injecting drug use	%	3.6	6.4	5.2	4.0	4.8	4.7	6.3	3.4	5.1	3.5	4.1
	Injecting drug use(e)	%	4.7	3.3	4.5	2.8	3.1	3.4	5.5	4.4	5.7	2.2	4.4
	Heterosexual contact	%	6.1	13.7	15.1	16.7	18.2	25.2	21.8	23.6	22.1	22.6	11.0
	Haemophilia/coagulation disorder	%	2.4	-	0.1	-	-	0.1	0.5	-	0.1	-	1.6
	Receipt of blood/tissue	%	1.8	0.8	0.4	0.2	0.1	0.6	0.3	-	-	-	1.2
	Mother with/at risk of HIV infection	%	0.2	1.0	0.8	0.8	0.9	0.4	0.1	0.4	0.4	0.3	0.4
	Health care setting	%	-	0.3	0.1	-	-	-	-	-	-	0.1	0.1
	Other/undetermined	%	20.9	5.1	7.5	9.7	9.1	8.0	9.5	8.3	7.9	10.8	16.7
(a) Not adjusted for multiple reporting. (b) The number of HIV/AIDS diagnoses for each year may be revised over time due to late reports, updated information on exposure and testing history for reported cases, and removal of previously unrecognised duplicate diagnoses. (c) Total includes 8 cases for which the date of HIV diagnosis was not reported. (d) The ‘Other/undetermined’ category was excluded from the calculation of the percentage of cases attributed to each HIV exposure category. (e) Excludes males who also reported a history of homosexual/bisexual contact.
Source: National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research, 'HIV/AIDS, viral hepatitis and sexually transmissible infections in Australia Annual Surveillance Report 2003', National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2003.