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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 10 Hansard (Thursday, 26 August 2004) . . Page.. 4481 ..

(3) There has been one notification of a confirmed case of meningococcal disease that attended Macgregor Primary School. This case occurred in July 2004.

(4) Based on the Guidelines for the early clinical and public health management of meningococcal disease in Australia, the public health response should only include those who are in close or prolonged contact with a case in the seven days preceding the onset of the illness, and those in very close contact after the onset of symptoms. Those outside the cases’ immediate network of contacts are not at an increased risk and do not need to be warned.

(5) The procedure that the school follows is directed and guided by ACT Health on an individual case-by-case basis. The circumstances of each case are carefully considered in line with the Guidelines for the early clinical and public health management of meningococcal disease in Australia.

Health—meningococcal cases
(Question No 1728)

Mr Smyth asked the Minister for Health, upon notice, on 4 August 2004:

(1) How many cases of meningococcal were reported to A.C.T. Health and/or A.C.T. hospitals in (a) 2003-04 and (b) to date this financial year;

(2) What is the procedure followed by A.C.T. Health when a meningococcal case is reported;

(3) When, or after how many reports, does A.C.T. Health issue a public notice about new cases;

(4) Was the correct procedure followed recently when it took a radio station’s inquiries to A.C.T. Health and the Office of the Minister for Education and Training to find out about two cases in a Canberra primary school;

(5) Why was an alert about these cases not issued before this time considering meningococcal is a notifiable disease.

Mr Corbell: The answer to the member’s question is:

(1) (a) There were 22 cases of suspected meningococcal disease notified to ACT Health in the financial year of 2003-2004. 17 of these cases met the case definition for a confirmed case of meningococcal disease.

(b) There have been four cases of suspected meningococcal disease notified to ACT Health to date in the current financial year. Three of these cases met the case definition for a confirmed case of meningococcal disease.

(2) The procedure followed by ACT Health when a case of meningococcal disease is reported is in accordance with the Communicable Diseases Network Australia, June 2001, Guidelines for the early clinical and public health management of meningococcal disease in Australia and amendment Changes to the management of meningococcal disease in Australia,

http://www.cda.gov.au/pubs/other/mening.htm#amend.

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