Monthly Notifiable Disease Surveillance Report - Oct 2019

Enteric Diseases: Enteric infections are the most common notifiable diseases, and several, along with acute gastroenteritis, are increasing in incidence. This increase is partly due to changes in laboratory testing practices, with a shift from culture methods to multiplex PCR (which tests for several diseases at the same time). This means more diseases are likely to be detected and in a more timely manner. For further information, see the 2016 Annual Notifiable Disease Report Commentary.

Dengue Fever: There were 16 cases of dengue fever (11 confirmed, 3 probable and 2 under investigation) notified in October 2019, compared with seven for the same month in 2018. Countries visited by the 14 confirmed and probable cases were India (4 cases), China and Indonesia (2 cases each), Cook Islands, Philippines, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam (1 case each). Information on avoiding dengue fever is available on the Safetravel website.

Legionellosis: There were 27 cases of legionellosis (14 confirmed and 13 under investigation) notified in October 2019, compared with 12 for the same month in 2018. The majority (10/14, 71.4%) of the confirmed cases were due to Legionella longbeachae which is commonly found in soil, compost and potting mix. One death was reported in a person aged over 70 years, infected with L. longbeachae, who had been handling compost. Information on working safely with soil, compost and potting mix is available on the Worksafe website here.

Measles: There were 347 cases of measles (336 confirmed, 9 probable and 2 under investigation) notified in October 2019, bringing the total for January–October to 2005 cases (Figure 1). The majority (249/336 cases, 74.1%) of confirmed cases were reported from the Auckland region. See the latest weekly measles surveillance report for more information.

Advice and information on the 2019 measles outbreaks can be found on the Ministry of Health website here.

Mumps: There were 32 cases (24 confirmed, 3 probable and 5 under investigation) of mumps notified in October 2019, compared with 13 for the same month in 2018. The majority (21 cases, 87.5%) of confirmed cases were reported from the Auckland region, and just over half of all confirmed cases were in adults aged 20–29 years (17 cases, 53.1%). Monthly notifications have not returned to baseline levels in the Auckland region since the start of the mumps outbreak in October 2017.

OUTBREAKS

Chickenpox: An outbreak of chickenpox (varicella zoster) involving eight cases was reported in October 2019. The cases were part of a school group from Northland who attended the Land Wars commemorations in Waitara over Labour weekend. For more information see the media release on 30 October 2019.

Influenza-like illness: Four outbreaks of influenza A virus were reported in October 2019. Three were in long-term care facilities and one was in a hospital (acute care).