PDF file - Department of Health and Ageing

National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System, 2004
Annual report
In 2004, Indigenous Australians had the highest
burden of hepatitis A. In 2004, Indigenous status of
90 per cent of cases was complete and 11 per cent
of cases were Indigenous (Table 7).
Hepatitis A is commonly spread from person to
person or from contaminated food or water. Where
information on risk factors was known (in 22% of
all notifi cations), overseas travel and household
contact with a case were the main risk factors for
hepatitis A infection (Table 8).
Hepatitis E
Case defi nition – Hepatitis E
Only confirmed cases are reported.
Confirmed case: Requires detection of
hepatitis E virus by nucleic acid testing OR,
detection of hepatitis E virus in faeces by
electron microscopy OR, detection of IgM or
IgG to hepatitis E virus. If the person has not
travelled outside Australia in the preceding 3
months, the antibody result must be confi rmed
by specifi c immunoblot.
Table 7.
Hepatitis A notifications, Australia, 2004, by Indigenous status
State or territory Indigenous Non-Indigenous Unknown Total % Indigenous
(of total)
ACT 0 0 1 1 –
NSW 1 113 25 139 0.7
NT 5 8 0 13 38.5
Qld 0 20 2 22 –
SA 1 10 0 11 9.1
Tas 0 0 1 1 –
Vic 0 67 4 71 –
WA 28 28 1 57 49.1
Total 35 246 34 315 11.1
Table 8.
territory
Risk exposures associated with hepatitis A virus infection, Australia, 2004, by state or
State or territory
ACT NSW NT Qld SA Tas Vic WA Aust
Total 1 139 13 22 11 1 71 57 315
Number of case with known risk factors* 0 57 6 11 6 0 41 21 142
Injecting drug use – 0 0 0 1 0 4 – 7
Household/close contact of case – 14 2 2 1 0 11 9 39
Overseas travel – 41 1 12 3 0 28 9 94
Childcare – 2 3 0 0 0 0 1 6
Homosexual contact – – 0 0 0 0 1 0 1
Sex worker – – 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Other † – – 0 0 2 0 0 0 2
* Number of risk factors may not add up to the totals as exposures are not mutually exclusive hence more than one
exposure per person is possible.
† Includes association with persons from country where hepatitis A is endemic and, living in areas where hepatitis A
is endemic.
– Not assessed.
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