Public health management of increased incidence of meningococcal disease in the Australian Capital Territory: 2003 to 2004.

This paper describes a sudden increase of meningococcal notifications in the Australian Capital Territory within a 3 month period, and the public health strategies used to manage it. There were 15 cases of meningococcal disease notified to the Communicable Disease Control (CDC) section, Australian Capital Territory Health (ACT Health), between 6 November 2003 and 5 February 2004. This was much higher than the annual average of 6 cases.

An evaluation of public health interventions during a pertussis outbreak in the ACT, 2003.

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 injection of methadone syrup in New South Wales: patterns of use and increased harm after partial banning of injecting equipment.

Objective: To describe methadone injectors and the risk practices associated with injecting methadone in New South Wales, Australia. To assess the impact on injecting drug use and risk behaviour of the withdrawal of methadone injecting equipment from government-funded needle and syringe programs.

Method: Cross-sectional survey, conducted in 1999, of 206 people who had injected methadone at least once in the previous month.

AIDS in Papua New Guinea: situation in the Pacific.

There has long been reason to anticipate a major heterosexual epidemic of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and probably in the rest of Melanesia. From the social and behavioural perspectives, Melanesia is strikingly similar to other areas of the world with serious epidemics of AIDS. High levels of other sexually transmitted infections indicate behaviour patterns that would also facilitate transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and presence of cofactors for HIV infection.