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National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System, 2004
Annual report
the Hib notifi cation rate was 0.4 per 100,000 in
Indigenous people and 0.06 per 100,000 in non-
Indigenous people —a ratio of 6.7:1.
Figure 39. Notifications of laboratoryconfirmed
influenza, Australia, 2004, by month
of onset
Cases under the age of 15 years were eligible for
vaccination. The vaccination status of 9 of these
10 cases was known—two were unvaccinated,
one partially vaccinated and six met the defi nition
for vaccine failure, having received at least 2 doses
under the age of 12 months. Of the vaccine failures,
3 (50%) were aged under 5 years.
Notifications
700
600
500
400
300
A recent evaluation of the impact of Hib vaccination
on Hib meningitis in Far North Queensland shows a
dramatic decline in the incidence of this disease. In
the four years prior to the addition of Hib vaccines to
the ASVS, there were 28 cases of Hib meningitis in
Far North Queensland and the rate of disease was
3.5 times greater in Indigenous children compared
with non-Indigenous children. Since 1993, there has
only been a single case of Hib meningitis, which
was in a non-Indigenous child. The authors of this
study estimated that in their region, Hib vaccination
had prevented 70 cases of disease, five deaths and
12 cases with neurological sequelae. 13
Influenza (laboratory confirmed)
Case defi nition – Infl uenza
Only confirmed cases are notifi ed.
Confirmed case: Requires isolation of
infl uenza virus by culture OR detection of
infl uenza virus by nucleic acid testing OR
detection of infl uenza virus antigen from an
appropriate respiratory tract specimen OR a
signifi cant increase in antibody levels, or IgG
seroconversion or fourfold or greater rise in
antibody titre or a single high titre antibody.
There were 2,073 reports of laboratory-confi rmed
infl uenza in 2004, a rate of 10.3 cases per 100,000
population. Notifi cations of infl uenza showed a peak
in September 2004 (Figure 39).
Children aged less than 5 years made up 21 per
cent of all notifi cations and had a notifi cation rate
of 34.8 cases per 100,000 population (Figure 40).
Children aged less than 1 year had the highest rates
(63.1 cases per 100,000 population). The overall
male to female ratio was 1:1.
There were 72 notifi cations of infl uenza in Indigenous
people in 2004. This gives a notifi cation rate for
infl uenza of 14.8 per 100,000 compared with 10 per
200
100
0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Month
Figure 40. Notification rate of laboratoryconfirmed
influenza, Australia, 2004, by age
group and sex
Rate per 100,000 population
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Rate per 100,000
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0