Estimates of reports of notifiable diseases by general practitioners in regional Western Australia

Abstract

We surveyed the attitudes of general practitioners to the notification of gazetted diseases in the south-west of Western Australia. Notification rates were calculated from the number of notifications recorded by the Southern Public Health Unit or the Communicable Disease Control Program of the State Health Department, and the estimated population of the region, the metropolitan area and the State. Of the 80% of general practitioners responding to the survey, 96% advised they intended to notify all gazetted diseases they diagnosed. Notification rates in the south-west of Western Australia ranged from 380 to 900 per 100,000 population, compared with approximately 450 per 100,000 population in the metropolitan area. Comm Dis Intell 1997; 21:205- 207.