A disease may be made notifiable to State health authorities if there is potential for its control. Most of the notifiable diseases are included on a core list agreed by all States and Territories. Factors considered include the overall impact of the disease on morbidity and mortality and the availability of control measures.
Notification allows authorities to detect outbreaks early and take rapid public health action, if necessary, and to plan and monitor these efforts. It also provides information on patterns of occurrence of disease.
There were 2,013 cases of notifiable diseases reported in Tasmania in 2002. Over a quarter of all cases in Tasmania were attributable to Campylobacterosis (a disease usually causing diarrhoea, abdominal pain, malaise, fever, nausea and vomiting for a few days). It is thought to be transmitted mainly by food.
DISEASES NOTIFIED - 2002
|Hepatitis C (unspecified)|
|Pertussis (Whooping cough) |
(a) Per 1,000 population.
Source: National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System Annual Report 2002; Australian Demographic Statistics (cat. no. 3101.0).