Notifiable diseases

What is a notifiable disease?

Communicable diseases are illnesses that can spread from one person (or sometimes an animal) to another.

Most people will experience one in their lifetime, such as the flu or a stomach bug.

While many of these are mild and resolve on their own, some can be more serious and require a coordinated public health response.

To help keep our community safe, it’s important to monitor and respond quickly to the spread of communicable diseases.

This may include contact tracing, where we identify people who may have been exposed to an illness to help stop further transmission.

Some communicable diseases must be reported to public health authorities by law. These are called notifiable conditions.

You can view the full list of notifiable conditions in Victoria on the Department of Health website.

How the GRPHU manages notifiable diseases

We work in partnership with the Victorian Department of Health to detect, manage, and reduce the spread of communicable diseases in Gippsland.

Our responsibilities include:

Working with doctors and pathology laboratories
Monitoring outbreaks in the community
Supporting people who are unwell or have been exposed
Collecting data for contact tracing and disease surveillance

Each disease is different, so our response depends on how it spreads, its severity, and what actions can prevent further transmission.

Information for Health Professionals

If you are a doctor or work in a pathology service and suspect, or confirm a notifiable condition, you are legally required to notify us.

You can:

Submit a secure online notification form via the Department of Health, or
Call GRPHU on (03) 5173 5451 (press option 1) for urgent or high-risk cases.

Information for organisations

Reporting outbreaks:

GRPHU manages outbreaks of infectious diseases including:

Respiratory illnesses eg, influenza, COVID-19, RSV
Gastroenteritis and other food- or water-borne illnesses

These outbreaks may occur in aged care homes, schools, workplaces, or healthcare settings.

To report an outbreak:

Call the Department of Health on 1300 651 160 (select option 1 and enter your
facility’s postcode), or
Contact GRPHU on (03) 5173 5451 (option 1)

For the public

If we contact you:

If you’ve been diagnosed with a notifiable communicable disease, a GRPHU public health officer may contact you to:

Understand how you became unwell
Identify people you may have been in contact with
Explain isolation or quarantine requirements

If you’ve been exposed to someone with a communicable disease, even if you’re not experiencing symptoms, we may also contact you to:

Help you monitor for symptoms
Provide information about testing or preventive treatment, eg, vaccines or antibiotics
Support you in protecting family members and others in your community

Note: GRPHU does not provide medical treatment or advice.

Please speak to your doctor or treating clinician for medical care.

You can also call NURSE-ON-CALL on 1300 606 024 for general health advice from a registered nurse.

How your health information is used

Under the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008, certain personal and health information may be collected and shared to help control the spread of diseases.

This may include:

Information about your illness
Details of people you may have been in contact with
How the illness may have spread

All personal information is kept strictly confidential and is accessed only by authorised public health staff.

GRPHU and Department of Health staff are legally obligated to protect
your privacy.

We may share information with your doctor or other healthcare services, but only for the purpose of managing public health risks.

More Information: