Monthly Notifiable Disease Surveillance Report - Feb 2014

Diphtheria: One confirmed case of diphtheria was notified in February 2014. The case was a male in the
20–29 years age group from Capital & Coast DHB and was in Tokelau during the incubation period for the disease.

Hepatitis A: 18 cases of hepatitis A were notified in February 2014 compared to 10 cases notified during the January 2014 and 11 cases notified during the same month of the previous year (Figure 1). Of the 18 notified cases 14 were laboratory confirmed and the remaining four cases were still under investigation. Ethnicity was recorded for 14 (77.8%) cases. The cases were distributed by ethnic group as follows: Pacific Peoples (12 cases), Asian and European or Other (1 case each). The highest number of cases was reported from Counties Manukau DHB (7 cases), followed by Hutt Valley DHB (6 cases). The age range for cases was 11 months–84 years with the highest number of cases in the 20–29 and 15–19 years age groups (4 and 3 cases, respectively). Overseas travel information was recorded for 13 (72.2%) cases. Of these, seven had travelled overseas during the incubation period for the disease. Countries visited included Fiji (3 cases), Samoa (3 cases), Australia and United Kingdom (not further defined) (1 case each). One case visited more than one country.

Hepatitis C: Five cases of hepatitis C were notified in February 2014 (2 confirmed and 3 under investigation) compared to three cases notified during the same month of the previous year. All five cases were from the European or Other ethnic group. Four cases were from Canterbury DHB and the remaining case was from Hutt Valley DHB. The age range for cases was 21–43 years. Both of the confirmed cases had risk factors recorded which indicated a history of injecting drug use.

Hepatitis not otherwise specified (NOS): One case of hepatitis NOS was notified in February 2014, the case has since been found to not meet the case criteria after further investigation.

Hydatid disease: One confirmed case of hydatid disease was notified in February 2014. The case was a female in the 20–29 years age group from Counties Manukau DHB who had been overseas in Syria and Iraq during the incubation period for the disease.

Leprosy: One confirmed case of leprosy was notified in February 2014. The case was a male in the 70 years and over age group from Counties Manukau DHB and was overseas in the Cook Islands during the incubation period for the disease.

Measles: 39 confirmed cases of measles were notified in February 2014 compared to 22 cases in January 2014 and zero cases notified during the same month of the previous year. Hospitalisation status was recorded for all cases of which four (10.3%) cases were hospitalised. The highest number of cases was reported from Waitemata DHB (27 cases), followed by Counties Manukau (7 cases) and Auckland (5 cases) DHBs. Ethnicity was recorded for 30 (76.9%) cases. The cases were distributed by ethnic groups as follows: European or Other (23 cases), Asian (5 cases), and Māori (2 cases). The age range for cases was 1–33 years, with the highest number of cases in the 10–14 and 15–19 years age groups (18 and 17 cases, respectively). The vaccination status was recorded for 24 (61.5%) cases. Of these, 16 were reported as not vaccinated, one received one dose of vaccine and six received two doses of vaccine, and one was reported as being vaccinated but no dose information was available. Of the cases for which risk factor information was recorded, 79.3% (23/29) reported contact with another measles case in the previous three weeks, 90.6% (29/32) reported attendance at school, pre-school or childcare and 26.1% (6/23) reported overseas travel during the incubation period.

Pertussis: 107 cases of pertussis were notified in February 2014 (41 confirmed, 42 probable, 5 suspect, and 19 under investigation) compared to 451 cases in the same month of the previous year. Of the 85 cases with hospitalisation status recorded, eight (9.4%) cases were hospitalised. The highest numbers of cases were reported from Waitemata, Counties Manukau, Waikato, and Canterbury (17 cases each) DHBs. Ethnicity was recorded for 84 (78.5%) cases. The cases were distributed by ethnic groups as follows: European or Other (59 cases), Māori (15 cases), and Pacific Peoples (10 cases). Age was recorded for 106 (99.1%) cases. The age range for cases was 1 month–85 years with the highest number of cases in the 30–39 and 50–59 years age groups (15 cases each). The vaccination status was recorded for 43 (40.2%) cases. Of these, 19 were reported as not vaccinated, two received one dose of vaccine, one received two doses of vaccine, 18 received three or more doses, and three were reported as being vaccinated but no dose information was available.

Rheumatic fever: 21 cases of rheumatic fever (19 initial attacks and 2 recurrent attacks) were notified in February 2014 compared to 13 cases notified during the January 2014 and 15 cases notified during the same month of the previous year (Figure 2). Of the 17 cases with an onset date recorded, 10 (58.8%) cases had an onset date prior to February 2014. Of the 18 cases with hospitalisation status recorded, 17 (94.4%) cases were hospitalised. The DHB with the highest number of cases reported was Counties Manukau (5 cases), followed by Northland and Tairawhiti (3 cases each). Ethnicity was recorded for 19 (90.5%) cases. The cases were distributed by ethnic group as follows: Māori (13 cases), Pacific Peoples (5 cases), and European or Other (1 case). The age range for cases was 7–38 years with the highest number of cases in the 10–14 and 5–9 year age groups (7 and 6 cases, respectively).

Rickettsial disease: One case of rickettsial disease was notified in February 2014. The case was a male in the 5–9 years age group from Auckland DHB. As the case is still under investigation risk factor information is currently unavailable.