{"title":"Was infectious syphilis being misclassified in remote Australian outbreaks? Evidence that informed modification of the national case definition.","authors":"Annie Preston-Thomas, Nathan Ryder, Sonia Harmen, Patricia Fagan","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>To assess the ability of the national case definition to identify infectious syphilis during an outbreak affecting predominantly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in a remote Australian region.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A retrospective case series study of all non-congenital syphilis cases in the region notified between 1 January 2009 and 31 December 2012 was performed. The national infectious syphilis case definition was compared with an expanded case definition derived from experienced clinician assessment and the definition proposed in the Interim Guidelines for the Public Health Management of Syphilis Outbreaks in Remote Populations in Australia from the Communicable Diseases Network Australia (CDNA).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Two hundred and forty syphilis cases were notified, of which 44 (18.3%) were symptomatic. The national case definition classified 106 (44.2%) cases as infectious, compared with 182 (75.8%) using the clinician-derived expanded case definition and 165 (68.8%) by the interim guidelines case definition. Seven confirmed and 6 probable cases were diagnosed as a result of contact tracing of probable infectious cases identified using the expanded case definition.</p><p><strong>Conclusions and implications: </strong>The national case definition for infectious syphilis applied in this remote Australian outbreak underestimated infectious cases when compared with experienced clinicians' evaluation by up to 76 cases (42%) and was inadequate to monitor the magnitude of a syphilis outbreak in such a setting. This may compromise surveillance and resource allocation decisions, and could reduce the capacity to interrupt transmission and contain an outbreak. A revised national case definition, informed by this analysis, was released by CDNA in July 2015.</p>","PeriodicalId":51669,"journal":{"name":"Communicable Diseases Intelligence","volume":"39 4","pages":"E571-7"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2015-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142734559","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Invasive pneumococcal disease surveillance Australia, 1 July to 30 September 2015.","authors":"Rachel de Kluyver, Cindy Toms","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":51669,"journal":{"name":"Communicable Diseases Intelligence","volume":"39 4","pages":"E639-43"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2015-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142734553","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Aditya Vyas, Andrew Ingleton, Essi Huhtinen, Kirsty Hope, Zeina Najjar, Leena Gupta
{"title":"Influenza outbreak preparedness: lessons from outbreaks in residential care facilities in 2014.","authors":"Aditya Vyas, Andrew Ingleton, Essi Huhtinen, Kirsty Hope, Zeina Najjar, Leena Gupta","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This report describes 6 influenza outbreaks in residential care facilities during the 2014 influenza season in the Sydney Local Health District. Vaccination rates were high among residents (95%) and low among staff (39%). The majority of residents with laboratory confirmed influenza (67%) did not meet the influenza-like illness case definition.Positive influenza specimens were subtyped as H3N2 (40%), H1N1 (5%) or not subtyped (55%). We illustrate the implications of low vaccine effectiveness and antigenic drift, and provide recommendations for the effective management of future influenza outbreaks. </p>","PeriodicalId":51669,"journal":{"name":"Communicable Diseases Intelligence","volume":"39 2","pages":"E204-7"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2015-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"33888961","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Australian Gonococcal Surveillance Programme, 1 July to 30 September 2014.","authors":"Monica M Lahra","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":51669,"journal":{"name":"Communicable Diseases Intelligence","volume":"39 2","pages":"E294-6"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2015-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"33889431","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Invasive pneumococcal disease surveillance Australia, 1 October to 31 December 2014.","authors":"Rachel de Kluyver","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":51669,"journal":{"name":"Communicable Diseases Intelligence","volume":"39 2","pages":"E303-7"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2015-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"33889435","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jason A Roberts, Linda K Hobday, Aishah Ibrahim, Thomas Aitkin, Bruce R Thorley
{"title":"Australian National Enterovirus Reference Laboratory annual report, 2013.","authors":"Jason A Roberts, Linda K Hobday, Aishah Ibrahim, Thomas Aitkin, Bruce R Thorley","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Australia conducts surveillance for cases of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) in children less than 15 years of age as the main method to monitor its polio-free status in accordance with the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations. Cases of AFP in children are notified to the Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit or the Paediatric Active Enhanced Disease Surveillance System and faecal specimens are referred for virological investigation to the National Enterovirus Reference Laboratory. In 2013, no cases of poliomyelitis were reported from clinical surveillance and Australia reported 1.4 non-polio AFP cases per 100,000 children, meeting the WHO performance criterion for a sensitive surveillance system. Non-polio enteroviruses can also be associated with AFP and enterovirus A71 was identified from nine of the 61 cases classified as non-polio AFP in 2013, which was part of a larger outbreak associated with this virus. A Sabin poliovirus was detected in an infant recently returned from Pakistan and who had been vaccinated while abroad. Globally, 416 cases of polio were reported in 2013, with the 3 endemic countries: Afghanistan; Nigeria; and Pakistan, accounting for 38% of the cases. To safeguard the progress made towards polio eradication, in May 2014, WHO recommended travellers from the 10 countries that are currently reporting wild poliovirus transmission have documented evidence of recent polio vaccination before departure.</p>","PeriodicalId":51669,"journal":{"name":"Communicable Diseases Intelligence","volume":"39 2","pages":"E208-16"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2015-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"33888962","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System, 1 January to 31 March 2015.","authors":"","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":51669,"journal":{"name":"Communicable Diseases Intelligence","volume":"39 2","pages":"E285-91"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2015-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"33889429","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Australian Gonococcal Surveillance Programme, 1 January to 31 March 2015.","authors":"Monica M Lahra, Rodney P Enriquez","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":51669,"journal":{"name":"Communicable Diseases Intelligence","volume":"39 2","pages":"E297-8"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2015-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"33889432","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Julia Ml Brotherton, Michael R Batchelor, Michelle O Bradley, Scott A Brown, Simone M Duncombe, Dennis Meijer, Lauren E Tracey, Maureen Watson, Rosalind J Webby
{"title":"Interim estimates of male human papillomavirus vaccination coverage in the school-based program in Australia.","authors":"Julia Ml Brotherton, Michael R Batchelor, Michelle O Bradley, Scott A Brown, Simone M Duncombe, Dennis Meijer, Lauren E Tracey, Maureen Watson, Rosalind J Webby","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":51669,"journal":{"name":"Communicable Diseases Intelligence","volume":"39 2","pages":"E197-200"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2015-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"33888959","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Chritina Bareja, Cindy Toms, Kerryn Lodo, Rachel de Kluyver
{"title":"Invasive pneumococcal disease in Australia, 2009 and 2010.","authors":"Chritina Bareja, Cindy Toms, Kerryn Lodo, Rachel de Kluyver","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Enhanced surveillance for invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) was conducted in all Australian states and territories in 2009 and 2010 with comprehensive comparative data available since 2002. There were 1,556 cases of IPD notified to the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System in Australia in 2009, a notification rate of 7.2 cases per 100,000 population. In 2010 there were 1,640 cases, a notification rate of 7.4 cases per 100,000. The overall rate of IPD in Indigenous Australians was almost 6 times the rate in non-Indigenous Australians in both 2009 and 2010. In 2009 and 2010, notification rates of IPD caused by serotypes included in the 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (7vPCV) continued to decrease across all age groups. Rates of IPD caused by non-7vPCV serotypes continued to show an increasing trend in both Indigenous and non-Indigenous children aged less than 5 years. In Indigenous adults (≥50 years), rates of IPD caused by both 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (23vPPV) serotypes and non-23vPPV serotypes continued to show an overall increase, particularly in 2010. There were 110 deaths attributed to IPD in 2009 and 137 in 2010, although it should be noted that deaths may be under-reported. The number of invasive pneumococcal isolates with reduced penicillin susceptibility remained low and reduced susceptibility to third generation cephalosporins was rare. </p>","PeriodicalId":51669,"journal":{"name":"Communicable Diseases Intelligence","volume":"39 2","pages":"E265-79"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2015-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"33889427","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}