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1 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 of National Statistics. In 1997, however, the responsibility for administering the system was transferred to the CDSC.

2 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 consultants in communicable disease control. These consultants are required to inform the CDSC on a weekly basis of each case of a disease that has been notified. The CDSC 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
• MalariaMalaria ( Italian: bad air ; formerly called ague or marsh fever in English) is an infectious disease which causes about 500 million infections and 2 million deaths annually, mainly in the tropics and sub-Saharan Africa. The protozoan cause of malaria was
• Measles
• MeningitisMeningitis is inflammation of the membranes ( meninges) covering the brain and the spinal cord. Although the most common causes are infection (either bacterial or viral), chemical agents and even tumor cells may cause meningitis. Encephalitis and brain ab
• MumpsFor the computer language of the same name, see MUMPS. Mumps or Epidemic parotitis is a viral disease of humans. Prior to the development of vaccination, it was a common childhood disease worldwide, and is still a significant threat to health in the third
• Plague
• PolioPoliomyelitis ("polio") is a viral paralytic disease. The causative agent, a virus called poliovirus (PV), enters the body orally, infecting the intestinal lining. It may proceed to the blood stream and into the central nervous system causing paralysis an
• Rabies
• Rubella
• Scarlet fever
• Smallpox
• Tetanus
• Tuberculosis
• Typhoid fever
• Typhus fever
• Viral hepatitis
• Whooping cough