​​​​​​​​​Laboratories are required by the Public Health Act (PHA) 2010​​ to notify their Public Health Unit (PHU) of a positive result for some conditions, including infectious diseases​.

Timely notification of infectious diseases helps NSW Health prevent outbreaks, respond to emerging health threats, and protect the community.​

Notifications are legally required and are kept strictly confidential in line with privacy legislation.

​What needs to ​be​ reported​

  • ​Notify by phone ASAP cases of:

    • Avian Influenza
    • Botulism
    • Candida auris infection and colonisation
    • Cholera
    • variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD)
    • Diphtheria
    • Haemophilius influenzae type b invasive infections
    • Hendra virus
    • Hepatitis A
    • Hepatitis E
    • Legionella infection
    • Listeriosis
    • Lyssavirus
    • Measles
      •
    • Meningococcal disease
    • Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV)
    • Mpox
    • Paratyphoid
    • Plague
    • Poliomyelitis
    • Rabies
    • Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)
    • Smallpox
    • Tularaemia
    • Typhoid
    • Shiga toxin/verotoxin producing Escherichia coli infections (STEC/VTEC)
    • Viral haemorrhagic fever
    • Yellow fever​
      ​

  • ​Notify by phone, fax or mail cases of:

    • Anthrax
    • Arboviral infection
    • Brucellosis
    • Campylobacter
    • Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales infection or colonisation (CPE)
    • Chancroid
    • Chlamydia
    • COVID-19
    • Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD)
    • Cryptosporidiosis
    • Gonorrhoea
    • Granuloma inguinale (Donovanosis)
    • Hepatitis B
    • Hepatitis C
    • Hepatitis D (Delta)
    • HIV (by HIV Reference Laboratory direct to NSW Health)
    • Influenza
    • Invasive group A Streptococcal infection (iGAS)​
    • ​Invasive pneumococcal infection
      •
    • ​Lead levels in blood ≥5μg/dl (≥0.24μmol/L)
    • Leprosy
    • Leptospirosis
    • Lymphogranuloma venereum (LGV)
    • Malaria
    • Mumps
    • Mycobacterium ulcerans
    • Pertussis
    • Psittacosis
    • Q fever
    • Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)
    • Rotavirus
    • Rubella
    • Salmonellosis
    • Shigellosis
    • Syphilis
    • Tuberculosis
    • Vibriosis​
      ​

How to notify

Notifications can be submitted:

  • In writing using the laboratory notification form​, or
  • Electronically via the Notifiable Conditions Information Management System​​ (NCIMS).

If the notifiable disease is followed by a phone icon Phone icon on the notification form, you must also notify the PHU by phone on 1300 066 055.

Notifications should be made within 24 hours to allow NSW Health to take timely public health action.​

PHU contacts​

Current as at: Tuesday 4 November 2025
Contact page owner: Vaccine Preventable and Respiratory Diseases