Bernard J. Durkan
Question:544 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Health and Children the current number of notifiable diseases and infections; if it is intended to extend this list; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12380/03]
Written Answers. - Infectious Diseases.
In Ireland the National Disease Surveillance Centre, NDSC, plays a key role in the prevention and management of infectious diseases. The infectious diseases notifiable by the health boards to the National Disease Surveillance Centre are as follows: acute anterior poliomyelitis, acute encephalitis, acute viral meningitis, anthrax, bacillary dysentery, bacterial meningitis (including meningococcal septicaemia), brucellosis, cholera, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, nvCreutzfeldt-Jakob disease, diphtheria, food poisoning (bacterial other than salmonella), gastroenteritis (when contracted by children under two years), infectious mononucleosis, infectious parotitis (mumps), influenzal pneumonia, legionnaires disease, leptospirosis, malaria, measles, ornithosis, plague, rabies, rubella, salmonellosis (other than typhoid or paratyphoid), severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), smallpox, tetanus, tuberculosis, typhoid and paratyphoid, typhus, viral haemorrhagic diseases, viral hepatitis type A, viral hepatitis type B, viral hepatitis unspecified, whooping cough, yellow fever; sexually transmitted infections – ano-gential warts, candidiasis, chancroid, chlamydia trachomatis, genital herpes simplex, gonorrhoea, granuloma inguinale, infectious hepatitis B, lymphogranuloma venereum, molluscum contagiosum, non-specific urethritis, pediculosis pubis, syphilis and trichomoniasis.
My officials have been in discussion with the National Disease Surveillance Centre regarding the amending of this list to exclude those diseases no longer relevant and to include additional infectious diseases to the list.
I recently amended the Infectious Diseases (Amendment) Regulations 1981 to designate SARS as a notifiable infectious disease.
The Irish approach to infectious diseases outbreaks and epidemics is based on sound internationally accepted principles such as: preventative measures, early identification of cases, effective clinical care including good hospital infection control, appropriate surveillance and contract tracing and management of contacts. The procedures for dealing with infectious diseases are based on these principles.
Many infectious diseases can be prevented by vaccine use. Immunisation against infectious disease has probably saved more lives than any other public health intervention, apart from the provision of clean water. Improvements in living standards have reduced the mortality from infectious diseases, but immunisation has also played a large role in the reduction of disease incidence. It would not have been possible to eradicate smallpox without vaccine, and the eradication of polio in the European region is also largely due to immunisation.
In recent years, improved economic and social conditions together with public health action have virtually eliminated the pandemics of communicable diseases.
In the event of disease outbreak I have in the past and will continue to establish expert committees/groups to advise on the most appropriate action given the particular circumstances of the outbreak concerned. Guidelines and protocols based on the principles referred to above are developed which are appropriate to the situation concerned. The guidelines are based on the advice of the committee concerned and also take into account guidance published by the World Health Organisation, WHO, the Centre for Disease Control, CDC, in the USA and a number of other reputable international public health institutions.
Regarding isolation, in recent years it has become the practice to refer and treat patients with infectious disease in acute general hospitals. It is now generally agreed by the medical profession, including the Medical Council, that an acute general hospital is the appropriate setting for the delivery of this service.