UK statutory notification system
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The '''UK statutory notification system''' for infectious diseases (also called '''Notifications of Infectious Diseases''' or '''NOIDS''') is a system whereby doctors are required to notify a "Proper Officer" of the local authority (such as a [[Consultant in Communicable Disease Control]]) if they are presented with a case of a serious infectious disease such as [[diphtheria]] or [[measles]]. The Proper Officer then sends a report to the Centre for Infections of the [[Health Protection Agency]] (HPA) in [[Colindale]],[[London]].
The main purpose of the system is the detection and intervention in possible [[epidemic]]s. It also enables surveillance data to be collected that can help in planning ways to prevent future outbreaks.
==History of the statutory notification system==
The statutory requirement for the notification of certain infectious diseases first came into being in [[London]] in [[1891]]. [[Cholera]], [[diphtheria]], [[smallpox]] and [[typhoid]] had to be reported by the head of the family or the landlord to the local authority. The system spread to the rest of England and Wales in [[1899]].
Originally, disease statistics were collected from the local authorities by the Registrar General's Office, where national statistics were already collected on births, marriages and deaths. This office was later known as the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys and is now called the [[Office for National Statistics]]. In [[1997]], however, the responsibility for administering the system was transferred to the CDSC.
==The system today==
The main concern of the modern system is speed in detecting possible outbreaks, and accuracy of diagnosis is only secondary. Since [[1968]] clinical suspicion of a notifiable infection is all that is required to report a case of a disease. The attending doctor must notify the proper officers, who are usually public health clinicians called consultants in communicable disease control. These consultants are required to inform the HPA on a weekly basis of each case of a disease that has been notified. The HPA collates these reports and publishes its analysis of local and national trends.
The list of notifiable diseases now stands at 30, including [[leprosy]], which must be reported directly to the director of the CDSC. During the 2002-3 outbreak, [[SARS]] was added to the list as a 31st.
Selected notifiable diseases:
*[[Anthrax]]
*[[Cholera]]
*[[Dysentery]]
*[[Food poisoning]]
*[[Malaria]]
*[[Measles]]
*[[Meningitis]]
*[[Mumps]]
*[[Bubonic plague|Plague]]
*[[Polio]]
*[[Rabies]]
*[[Rubella]]
*[[Scarlet fever]]
*[[Smallpox]]
*[[Tetanus]]
*[[Tuberculosis]]
*[[Typhoid fever]]
*[[Typhus]] fever
*Viral [[hepatitis]]
*[[Whooping cough]]
==See also==
* [[List of notifiable diseases]] includes other countries
* [[Notification system]] describes general notification systems
==External links==
* [http://www.hpa.org.uk/infections/topics_az/noids/noidlist.htm The complete list of notifiable infections]
[[Category:Epidemiology]]
[[Category:Infectious diseases]]