National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS)

About the NNDSS

The NNDSS coordinates national surveillance data for diseases on the National Notifiable Disease List.

Notifiable diseases are those that present a risk to public health.

Why the NNDSS is important

By keeping track of notifiable diseases, the NNDSS enables us to:

• identify national trends and outbreaks
• respond to potential outbreaks
• develop public health advice to reduce their incidence and impact
• allocate resources where they are needed most
• track our progress towards eradicating these diseases over time
• meet international reporting requirements, such as providing disease statistics to the World Health Organization. 

 Data collection

Every day, the state and territory health authorities supply the NNDSS with de-identified notification data about new cases of notifiable diseases. 

Reporting to the NNDSS depends on the cooperation of states and territories.

The data includes:

• a unique record reference number
• a state or territory identifier
• a disease code
• the date of onset of illness
• the date of notification to the health authority
• sex of the case
• age of the case
• Indigenous status of the case
• postcode where the case lives

The quality and completeness of the information we receive varies, because:

• notifications come from various sources, including clinicians, laboratories and hospitals
• states and territories have different ways for these sources to report cases
• some people may choose to not provide all relevant information to health authorities.

We continuously aim to improve the national consistency of reporting by working with:

• state and territory health authorities
• national committees, such as the Communicable Diseases Network Australia and its subcommittees.

Data reports

We collate, analyse and publish this information in our:

• NNDSS data visualisation tool
• the NNDSS fortnightly reports
• the Australian Respiratory Surveillance reports
• annual reports in the Communicable Diseases Intelligence journal
• datasets for selected diseases from 2009 to 2019.

The National Notifiable Diseases List

The National Health Security (National Notifiable Disease List) Instrument (NNDL) contains the legislated list of nationally notifiable diseases that the NNDSS monitors. 

The National Health Security Act 2007 underpins the NNDL.

Changing the NNDL

Adding a disease to the list requires the Australian Government to change the legislation. 

A new disease can be included if Australian and state authorities consider it a risk to public health and more information on its patterns could help to prevent it. 

In an emergency, the Australian Government Minister for Health can add diseases to the list without consulting with the states and territories.

For details of the process, see Protocol for making a change to the NNDL.

Nationally notifiable diseases

Bloodborne diseases

• Hepatitis B (newly acquired and unspecified)
• Hepatitis C (newly acquired and unspecified)
• Hepatitis D

Gastrointestinal diseases

• Botulism
• Campylobacteriosis
• Cholera
• Cryptosporidiosis
• Haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS)
• Hepatitis A
• Hepatitis E
• Listeriosis
• Paratyphoid fever
• Salmonellosis
• Shiga toxin-producing E. Coli (STEC) or Verotoxin‑producing E. Coli (VTEC)
• Shigellosis
• Typhoid fever
• Vibrio parahaemolyticus infection.

Listed human diseases

Listed human diseases are those listed in the Biosecurity (Listed Human Diseases) Determination 2016. These are diseases that can spread and cause significant harm to human health.

• Human influenza with pandemic potential
• Human coronavirus with pandemic potential
• Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS)
• Plague
• Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)
• Smallpox
• Viral haemorrhagic fevers, including Ebola
• Yellow fever

Sexually transmissible infections

• Chlamydia
• Donovanosis
• Gonococcal infection
• Syphilis (congenital, less than 2 years duration, or more than 2 years or unspecified duration)

Vaccine preventable diseases

• Diphtheria
• Haemophilus influenzae type b
• Measles
• Meningococcal disease – invasive
• Mumps
• Pneumococcal disease – invasive
• Poliovirus infection
• Rotavirus
• Rubella (including congenital rubella)
• Tetanus
• Varicella zoster infection (including chickenpox, shingles and unspecified Varicella zoster infection)

Respiratory diseases

• Coronavirus disease (COVID‑19)
• Influenza (laboratory confirmed)
• Legionellosis
• Pertussis
• Respiratory syncytial virus infection (RSV)
• Tuberculosis

Vectorborne diseases

• Barmah Forest virus infection
• Chikungunya virus infection
• Dengue virus infection
• Flavivirus infection (unspecified)
• Japanese encephalitis virus infection
• Malaria
• Murray Valley encephalitis virus infection
• Ross River virus infection
• West Nile/Kunjin virus infection

Zoonoses

• Avian influenza in humans
• Anthrax
• Australian bat lyssavirus infection
• Brucellosis
• Hendra virus infection
• Leptospirosis
• Lyssavirus infection (not elsewhere classified)
• Mpox
• Psittacosis (also known as ornithosis)
• Q fever
• Rabies
• Tularaemia

Other notifiable diseases

• Group A Streptococcal disease – invasive (iGAS)
• Hepatitis (not elsewhere classified)
• Leprosy (also known as Hansen’s disease)

Diseases under national surveillance by other organisations

The Australian National Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Registry and the Kirby Institute are also monitoring:

• Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD)
• Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD)
• Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)

This information helps to complement NNDSS data.

State and territory lists

The states and territories also have their own notifiable communicable disease lists. Many diseases are on all lists, but some are only notifiable in 1 or 2 jurisdictions.

Check the list for your state or territory:

• Australian Capital Territory
• New South Wales
• Northern Territory
• Queensland
• South Australia
• Tasmania
• Victoria
• Western Australia.

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