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An evaluation of public health interventions during a pertussis outbreak in the ACT, 2003
Rona Hiam1, Charles Guest, Geetha Isaac-Toua
1Clinical Governance Unit, ACT Health, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. rona.hiam@act.gov.au
Objective:
To assess whether issuing information alerts increased the proportion of pertussis cases notified within the 21-day infectious period during a pertussis outbreak in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) in 2003.
Method:
The study included all persons resident in the ACT for whom a notification of pertussis was received with onset of disease between 1 March and 31 December 2003. Cases notified within 21 days of onset were called 'early notifications'. The effectiveness of information alerts was assessed by comparing the proportion of early notifications before and after each alert and over the course of the outbreak.
Main Outcome Measure:
The proportion of early notifications.
Results:
The proportion of early notifications ranged from 1/36 (2.7%) prior to the first intervention to 29/52 (55.7%) after the final intervention (p < 0.001).
Conclusions:
This study supports the hypothesis that information alerts by ACT Health increase the proportion of cases notified within the infectious period of 21 days.
Implications For Public Health Practice:
Early diagnosis of pertussis cases (within the infectious period) has the potential to limit transmission and protect susceptible infants.
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