Infectious diseasesepidemiology and surveillance

Page content: About notifications | Notes for interpreting data | Further information | Copyright & privacy

Infectious diseases and other conditions of concern still occur frequently throughout the world, so constant vigilance is required to prevent the reappearance of diseases and conditions thought to have been conquered. Changes in lifestyle have also led to the emergence of new threats to public health from infection. Health authorities depend on both medical practitioners and laboratories for information on the incidence of these conditions. Notification is vital in efforts to prevent or control the spread of infection and to prevent further harmful exposures. Notifiable conditions are specified in Schedule 4 of the Public Health and Wellbeing Regulations 2009 and are divided into four groups on the basis of the method of notification and the information required.

In Victoria, the Department of Health conducts surveillance on infectious diseases to pinpoint outbreaks and to prevent the spread of infection. Notifications of conditions from medical practitioners and laboratories are the fundamental component of the surveillance. For some conditions, investigation is initiated on the basis of clinical suspicion in the absence of laboratory confirmation. The investigations may include contacting cases to obtain more detailed information. Note - the Department will not contact the patient without first seeking the consent of the notifying doctor.

This section of the site contains:

• Daily reports
• Weekly/Monthly reports
• Annual reports
• Victorian Infectious Diseases Bulletin
• Descriptive reports

About notifications

Surveillance for notifiable conditions occurs under the authority of the Public Health and Wellbeing Regulations 2009. These Regulations require medical practitioners and pathology laboratories to notify the Department when they diagnose certain infectious diseases and other conditions of concern.

View instructions on Notifying Cases of Infectious Diseases in Victoria.

Case definitions are used for each disease; summaries of these can be found with each disease article in the annual report Surveillance of Notifiable Infectious Diseases in Victoria. Analyses in these reports are based on notification date, that is, the date on which the notification was received by the Department.

Notes for interpreting data

Daily updates of preliminary data are available for notifiable conditions in the reports listed under Tabulated summaries but the data should be considered with caution because they may be subject to change. Each report contains data related to notifications processed by the Department up to the close of business on the dates specified. While the reports are updated on a daily basis there may be a lag between receipt and recording of notification for some conditions, particularly those with large numbers of notifications such as hepatitis C and Campylobacter infection. Please note that the accompanying commentary is updated on a weekly basis.

Notifications are counted in the Victorian dataset if the postcode of residence of the case is in Victoria. Postcode of residence of the case does not, however, necessarily reflect the place of acquisition of infection and therefore regional summaries should be interpreted with caution.

The Department has eight health regions within Victoria, three metropolitan and five regional areas. Each region is a composition of local government areas (LGA). Notifications are geocoded to LGAs by street address and postcode and then allocated to a DH region.

Changes occur in the number of notifications reported in previous reports for some diseases. This is due to the ongoing maintenance and update of notification datasets as new information becomes available, or where errors are detected through data cleaning processes.

Copyright & privacy

These publications are protected by copyright and remain the property of the Department of Health. No part of these publications may be reproduced, distributed, transmitted or stored, electronically or mechanically, for any purpose, on any media, in any form or by any means whatsoever, without prior explicit written authority of the copyright holders.

The Department assumes no responsibility or liability for damages arising from the inability to use these publications or for any omissions from and errors in these publications.

Authorised by the State Government of Victoria, 50 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne.

All reports are updated each weeknight where possible.

Further information

For comments or queries related to surveillance data included in these reports contact:

Communicable Disease Prevention and Control Unit
Telephone: 1300 651 160
Email: infectious.diseases@health.vic.gov.au