New website on infectious diseases

Information about infectious diseases, such as symptoms and statistics, has been made available on a new website of the Health Department's Disease Surveillance Unit.

The website gives users basic information about diseases such as chickenpox, food poisoning, meningitis, mumps, measles and hepatitis.

The number of cases of chickenpox amounted to 354 in the first seven months of the year, according to the data on the site. 517 cases were reported between January and July 2003, while in 2002 there were 116 reported cases.

With regard to food poisoning, the unit site shows that until July this year there were 93 reported cases as opposed to 88 for the same period last year.

While stressing that the site is in no way a substitute for medical consultation, unit head Charmaine Gauci said people could use it to learn what sort of symptoms to look out for.

The unit is the local centre dealing with surveillance of infectious diseases. Data are collected from various sources, including medical doctors, laboratories and through appropriate surveillance systems, in order to provide more information on prevailing issues.

The site is part of the unit's efforts to educate and provide information about infectious diseases.

However, Dr Gauci said, the prime concern remained that of surveillance.

"There are 67 specified communicable diseases whose notification is mandatory by law for all doctors in both public and private sectors," she said.

The site gives information about how doctors and specialists should contact the Public Health Department in case of any suspicious disease.

"In fact, doctors are continually encouraged to notify such communicable diseases since the system, as well as public safety in general, rely substantially on such notifications. Besides offering data, the unit is also responsible for managing local outbreaks of infectious diseases," she explained.

The website also includes extensive links to international organisations and institutions, foreign public health institutes and specialised schools on public health, European disease networks as well as an array of links to local health and safety organisations.

www.health.gov.mt/dsu