| Abstract | In 1999, a total of 20,353 cases of infectious diseases were notified under the Quarantine and Prevention of Disease Ordinance (Cap. 141). An apparent upsurge of the total number of notifications was observed in 1999 representing a 107 percent increase compared with 1998 (9,825 cases). Chickenpox, which was included as a notifiable disease under Cap. 141 since 1 February 1999, accounted for 10,894 cases (54 percent) of the notifications. If chickenpox was excluded from comparision, the total number of notifications in 1999 had in fact decreased by 4 percent to 9,459. The article features the source of notifications, the top five infectious diseases, trends of notifiable infectious diseases, seasonal pattern, other diseases of interest, and deaths due to infectious diseases. |
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