Mosquito and vector-borne disease

Highlights included:

• a dramatic increase in Ross River virus (RRV) notifications, escalating from the outbreak which commenced in December 2016. This represented the largest RRV outbreak for many years, predominantly affecting southern inland areas of the state, and followed heavy rains and flooding in September 2016
• a continued upward trend in chikungunya virus notifications, with Bangladesh and India the most common source countries for infection
• a moderate decrease in dengue virus notifications, with India replacing Indonesia as the most common source country
• a moderate increase in malaria notifications, with India the most common source country.  Plasmodium falciparum infections were the most common species identified, and these were mostly associated with travel to countries in Africa.
• a marked decrease in Zika virus notifications, coinciding with the gradual resolution of large Zika outbreaks in a number of countries
• nine detections of exotic mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti) at ports of entry in NSW in 2017, down from 12 detections in 2016. NSW Health coordinated the response to prevent the establishment of these exotic species including coordination with agencies, enhanced surveillance, insecticide treatments, vector habitat survey, and management options
• an emergency response exercise conducted by the Tweed Shire Council, assessing the collective response to a hypothetical exotic mosquito incursion, exotic mosquito habitat surveys, and public messaging
• continuation of the NSW Arbovirus Surveillance and Mosquito Monitoring Program which  provides early warning of arbovirus and mosquito activity in NSW to inform mosquito control activities and community education.

For more details see the 2017 Vector-Borne Diseases Annual report.​​