The Centre for Health Protection says the communicable disease surveillance system will be enhanced in the coming two years, adding the number of illnesses to be included in the list of statutory notifiable diseases will rise from 32 to 45.

In a Legislative Council paper presented today, the centre said as Hong Kong faces challenges from changing trends in communicable diseases, there is a need to constantly review and strengthen the surveillance system.

The new Prevention & Control of Disease Bill LegCo is examining proposes to increase the list of statutory notifiable diseases.

Proposed additions

The proposed additions include anthrax, botulism, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, Escherichia-coli O157:H7 infection, Haemophilus influenzae type-B infection (invasive), hantavirus infection, influenza A(H2), leptospirosis, listeriosis, psittacosis - commonly known as Parrot fever, Q-fever, congenital rubella syndrome, smallpox, rickettsial diseases, viral haemorrhagic fever and West Nile virus infection.

To enhance the sentinel surveillance community networks, the centre has developed an electronic platform for childcare centres participating in the sentinel surveillance system. As the system has been operating effectively, the centre is planning to extend it to other sentinel surveillance sites.

The centre is also planning to incorporate more information and communication technologies to organise surveillance information more efficiently and to perform more powerful and advanced analysis.

System revamp

The centre's website will be revamped this year to improve communication with the public. The centre will also produce new broadcast announcements on communicable disease control.

On liaison with the Mainland, the centre said the 8th Tripartite Meeting of Guangdong, Macau & Hong Kong on the Prevention & Control of Infectious Diseases will be held in Macau to discuss the latest trends of communicable diseases.

The centre is also planning to organise drills and exercises on communicable diseases jointly with the Mainland this year.