A continuing pertussis epidemic in Victoria, 2009

Pertussis notifications have increased in Australia since 2007, with a sharp increase from the second half of 2008 in Victoria. In this article we examine whether pertussis notifications in Victoria increased in 2009 and describe the epidemiology of these cases. Confirmed and probable cases of Bordetella pertussis infection notified in Victoria from 2003 to 2009 were extracted from the Victorian Notifiable Infectious Diseases Surveillance system. The Australian Childhood Immunisation Register was used to obtain vaccination status of children less than 10 years of age. There were 3,737 pertussis cases notified in Victoria in 2009 compared with 1,673 cases in 2008. There was an increase in cases across all age groups and the gender distribution was similar to previous years. The pertussis notification rate in the Indigenous population was more than double that of the nonIndigenous population. Amongst cases aged seven months to less than 10 years, 69 per cent were fully vaccinated. The marked increase in the number of pertussis notifications in Victoria in 2009 highlights the need for increased attention to be paid to the prevention of pertussis within the community and to protect those most vulnerable to the disease