Clusters without notifications will not appear on the chart or table. Rates are not displayed for clusters with counts of less than five. Rates were age-adjusted using the Australian population as at 30 June 2001.
Source:
NSW Notifiable Diseases Database and ABS population estimates (HOIST). Centre for Epidemiology and Research, NSW Health.
Arboviral infections are transmitted by infected mosquitoes and may occur throughout New South Wales and Australia. The Public Health Act (1991) requires laboratories to notify cases of arbovirus infection such as Ross River virus (RRV) and Barmah Forest virus (BFV) to NSW Health and Population Health Units. Serological studies and laboratory investigations have indicated that native mammals, most likely kangaroos and wallabies, are natural hosts for Ross River virus but little is known about the hosts of Barmah Forest virus. Ross River and Barmah Forest viruses have been isolated from many mosquito species, indicating wide susceptibility among mosquitoes. In inland regions, the major vector is Culex annulirostris which breeds in freshwater habitats, especially in irrigated areas. Along coastal regions, saltmarsh mosquitoes represent the major threat, including Ochlerotatus vigilax and Oc. camptorhynchus in northern and southern coastal regions respectively.
In the Hunter New England area from 2001 to 2003, the most common notifiable arborviral infections were due to the alphaviruses of Ross River virus and Barmah Forest virus particularly in the health clusters of Mehi, McIntyre and the Lower Mid North Coast. The arboviral notification rate in the Lower Mid North Coast region (Great Lakes, Greater Taree and Gloucester) had significantly higher age standardised notification rates than New South Wales (81.2 and 14.4 per 100,000 respectively). Interestingly, the Hunter New England Health, Communicable disease analysis report 2000-2004 (2005) indicates higher rates of Barmah Forest virus compared to Ross River virus being notified in the Lower Mid North Coast region. All health clusters except for the Upper Hunter region have higher age standardised rates for arboviral infections compared to all of New South Wales.
Hunter New England Health alongside Local Government Authorities, the Premiers Department and the Department of Medical Entomology at the Institute of Clinical Pathology and Medical Research (ICMPR) have been collaborating on the development of a mosquito Management Strategy for the Lower Hunter and Mid North Coast region titled, 'Living With Mosquitoes'. This strategy aims to raise awareness and reduce morbidity by preventing arboviral infections. Prevention depends on the reduction of exposure to mosquitos through environmental control and personal protection.
Although this page can be printed directly from your Web browser,
a higher quality version of this entire page (graph, table and text)
is available as an Acrobat PDF file which can be printed or viewed on screen
using Adobe Acrobat Reader (free software).
The data contained in the table on this page are available for download as a CSV file which can be
imported into many software packages. The graph is available for download as an EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) file
and as an EMF (Enhanced Metafile Format) file. Files in these formats can be imported into most word processing,
presentation and graphics software packages.
Rider:
The information presented in this report result from analyses of a variety of social and health focused datasets. These datasets originate from a variety of sources including Hunter New England Health, the NSW Department of Health, and the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The timing of the release of these data to third parties is controlled by the owner of these data. It is therefore possible for these organisations to publish data that they have not yet made available to Hunter New England Population Health for analysis and release. Users should therefore check the publications of these organisations as it is possible that they may have published even more up to date information on Hunter New England than those available in this report. As this report is an ongoing project, the indicators presented will be updated as soon as possible after the release of all datasets to Hunter New England Population Health.
Copyright notice:
This work is copyright Hunter New England Area Health Service, 2005. It may be reproduced
in whole or in part, subject to the inclusion of an acknowledgement of the source. Commercial usage or sale is prohibited.
Hunter New England Population Health. Health in Hunter New England. Hunter New England Area Health Service, 2005. Available at:
http://www.hnehealth.nsw.gov.au/HHNE/env/env_arbo.htm. Accessed (insert date of access).
Top of page
Table of contents
