Evaluation of Campylobacter infection surveillance in Victoria

Campylobacter infection is a notifiable infectious disease in Victoria and with more than 6,000 cases notified annually, it is the second most commonly notified disease after chlamydia. The objectives of Campylobacter infection surveillance in Victoria are to monitor the epidemiology of Campylobacter infection, identify outbreaks, initiate control and prevention actions, educate the public in disease prevention, evaluate control and prevention measures, and plan services and priority setting. An evaluation of the system was undertaken to assess performance against its objectives, identify areas requiring improvement and inform a decision of whether Campylobacter infection should remain a notifiable infectious disease. The surveillance system was assessed on the attributes of data quality, timeliness, simplicity and acceptability using notifiable infectious diseases data and interviews with doctors who had failed to notify, and laboratory and public health staff. The evaluation found that the system collects core demographic data with high completeness that are appropriately reviewed, analysed and reported. In 2007, 12% of Campylobacter isolates were subtyped and only one to 3 outbreaks were identified annually from 2002 to 2007. Fifty-four per cent of cases were notified by doctors and 96% by laboratories, although nearly half of laboratory notifications were not received within the prescribed timeframe. Half of the surveyed non-notifying doctors thought that Campylobacter infection was not serious enough to warrant notification. The Campylobacter surveillance system is not fully satisfying its objectives. Investment in the further development of analytical methods, electronic notification and Campylobacter subtyping is required to improve simplicity, acceptability, timeliness and sensitivity.