title: Tuberculosis notifications in Australia, 2011.
abstract: The National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System received 1,385 tuberculosis (TB) notifications in 2011, representing a rate of 6.2 cases per 100,000 population. While Australia has maintained a rate of 5 to 6 cases per 100,000 for TB since the mid-1980s, there has been a steady increase in incidence over the past decade. In 2011, Australia's overseas-born population continued to represent the majority of TB notifications (88%) with a notification rate of 20.2 per 100,000. The incidence of TB in the Australian-born Indigenous population has fluctuated over the last decade and showed no clear trend; however, in 2011 the notification rate was 4.9 per 100,000, which is a notable decrease from the 7.5 per 100,000 recorded in 2010. The incidence of TB in the Australian-born non-Indigenous population has continued to remain low at 0.9 per 100,000. Australia continued to record only a small number of multi-drug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) cases nationally (n=25), all of which were identified in the overseas-born population. To ensure that Australia can retain its low TB rate and work toward reducing rates further, it is essential that Australia maintains good centralised national TB reporting to monitor trends and identify at-risk populations, and continues to contribute to global TB control initiatives.
authors: Vaccine Preventable Diseases Surveillance Section, Health Emergency Management Branch, Office of Health Protection, Department of Health, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory.
authors: Christina
authors: C
authors: Bareja
authors: Western Australian Tuberculosis Control Program, Department of Health, Perth, Western Australia.
authors: Justin
authors: J
authors: Waring
authors: South Australian Tuberculosis Services, Royal Adelaide Hospital, Adelaide, South Australia.
authors: Richard
authors: R
authors: Stapledon
authors: Vaccine Preventable Diseases Surveillance Section, Health Emergency Management Branch, Office of Health Protection, Department of Health, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory.
authors: Cindy
authors: C
authors: Toms
authors: Global Health Branch, Australian Government Department of Immigration and Border Protection, Sydney, New South Wales.
authors: Paul
authors: P
authors: Douglas
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000847:Annual Reports as Topic; D000995:Antitubercular Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D018563:Disease Notification / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D062665:Epidemiological Monitoring; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018088:Tuberculosis, Multidrug-Resistant / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology / Q000382:microbiology; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology / Q000382:microbiology; D044465:White People
chemical_list: D000995:Antitubercular Agents