Doctors and laboratories must notify certain diseases to the state or territory public health unit. Data is combined nationally in the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS).
Urgent (phone on clinical suspicion): measles, meningococcal disease, diphtheria, botulism, cholera, suspected viral haemorrhagic fevers and other serious outbreaks.
Routine (within days): TB, HIV, hepatitis A, B and C, syphilis, gonorrhoea, chlamydia, pertussis, salmonellosis, campylobacteriosis, legionellosis, Q fever, Ross River virus, lab-confirmed influenza and COVID-19, among others.
Key points:
- Patient consent is not required, but tell the patient you are notifying.
- Public health units do contact tracing, prophylaxis and exclusion advice. You may be asked to help.
- Lists vary a little by state; the principle is national.
Compared with India, conditions like TB, typhoid and malaria are uncommon and a single case triggers public health follow-up, while STIs and vaccine-preventable diseases are a large part of surveillance.