Tuberculosis notifications in Australia, 2006

The National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System received 1,201 tuberculosis (TB) notifications in 2006, of which 1,142 were new cases and 59 were relapses. The incidence of TB in Australia was 5.8 cases per 100,000 population in 2006 up from 5.3 per 100,000 in 2005, but still below 6 per 100,000 as it has been since 1985. Eighty-five per cent of TB notifications in 2006 were in people born outside Australia. The incidence in people born overseas and Indigenous Australians were 20.7 and 6.6 cases per 100,000 population, respectively. By contrast, the incidence of TB in the non-Indigenous Australian-born population was 0.9 cases per 100,000 population. Household or other close contact was reported as the most common risk factor for TB infection. The number of cases of TB reported in health care workers increased in 2006; these were mostly in health care workers born in TB-endemic countries and there were no reports of TB transmission in Australian health care settings. Outcome data of the 2005 TB cohort indicates that treatment success was attained in more than 95% of cases. Progress towards TB elimination in Australia will rely on continued TB awareness, maintenance of high standards of TB diagnostic and control practices, and promoting regional and global TB control activities.