Reviewed on : 19 Dec 2022

Reviewed by : GP Gateway Editor

Expires : 19 Dec 2024

Notification of Infectious Diseases

All sections of the form must be completed. Currently** only 28% of the forms sent to West Midlands Health Protection team include the vaccination status of the patient. It is essential that if the practices are reporting any of the below listed Vaccine Preventable Diseases that they include the patient’s vaccination status on the form.

Occupation and workplace details if an adult, school/nursery details if a child should also be included on the form for all infections reported. All of this information helps us to do our risk assessment on what immediate public health action maybe required and identify outbreaks.

**July 2021

• Mumps*
• Measles*
• Rubella*
• Whooping Cough*
• Tetanus
• Diphtheria

For the infections that require an oral fluid test (OFT)* to confirm diagnosis, we are only currently receiving the samples returned in 50% of cases reported. Please remind Clinicians to inform patients during Consultation that they must return the oral fluid kit as per instructions. A copy of the instruction’s form on how to take the sample is attached for your information. This form is included with the OFT kit posted to the patient’s home address.

Registered medical practitioners (RMPs) have a statutory duty to notify the ‘proper officer’ at their local council or local health protection team (HPT) of suspected cases of certain infectious diseases.

Complete a notification form immediately on diagnosis of a suspected notifiable disease.

Don’t wait for laboratory confirmation of a suspected infection or contamination before notification. Consult the PHE Notifiable Diseases poster for further information.

Send the form to the proper officer within 3 days, or notify them verbally within 24 hours if the case is urgent by phone, letter, encrypted email or secure fax machine.

If you need help, contact your local HPT:

Contact details:

PHE West Midlands East Health Protection Team,
5 St Philip’s Place,
Birmingham,
B3 2PW

Referral by email from an NHS.NET email address only: PHE.wme@nhs.net

Phone: 0344 225 3560 option 2

Out of hours for health professionals only: please phone 01384 679 031

List of notifiable diseases

Diseases notifiable to local authority proper officers under the Health Protection (Notification) Regulations 2010:

• Acute encephalitis
• Acute infectious hepatitis
• Acute meningitis
• Acute poliomyelitis
• Anthrax
• Botulism
• Brucellosis
• Cholera
• Diphtheria
• Enteric fever (typhoid or paratyphoid fever)
• Food poisoning
• Haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS)
• Infectious bloody diarrhoea
• Invasive group A streptococcal disease
• Legionnaires’ disease
• Leprosy
• Malaria
• Measles
• Meningococcal septicaemia
• Mumps
• Plague
• Rabies
• Rubella
• Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)
• Scarlet fever
• Smallpox
• Tetanus
• Tuberculosis
• Typhus
• Viral haemorrhagic fever (VHF)
• Whooping cough
• Yellow fever

Report other diseases that may present significant risk to human health under the category ‘other significant disease’.

Laboratories: report notifiable organisms (causative agents)

All laboratories in England performing a primary diagnostic role must notify PHE on the confirmation of a notifiable organism.

Read the guidance for diagnostic laboratories on reporting causative agents to PHE .

List of notifiable organisms (causative agents)

Causative agents notifiable to PHE under the Health Protection (Notification) Regulations 2010:

• Bacillus anthracis
• Bacillus cereus (only if associated with food poisoning)
• Bordetella pertussis
• Borrelia spp
• Brucella spp
• Burkholderia mallei
• Burkholderia pseudomallei
• Campylobacter spp
• Chikungunya virus
• Chlamydophila psittaci
• Clostridium botulinum
• Clostridium perfringens (only if associated with food poisoning)
• Clostridium tetani
• Corynebacterium diphtheriae
• Corynebacterium ulcerans
• Coxiella burnetii
• Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever virus
• Cryptosporidium spp
• Dengue virus
• Ebola virus
• Entamoeba histolytica
• Francisella tularensis
• Giardia lamblia
• Guanarito virus
• Haemophilus influenzae (invasive)
• Hanta virus
• Hepatitis A, B, C, delta, and E viruses
• Influenza virus
• Junin virus
• Kyasanur Forest disease virus
• Lassa virus
• Legionella spp
• Leptospira interrogans
• Listeria monocytogenes
• Machupo virus
• Marburg virus
• Measles virus
• Mumps virus
• Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex
• Neisseria meningitidis
• Omsk haemorrhagic fever virus
• Plasmodium falciparum, vivax, ovale, malariae, knowlesi
• Polio virus (wild or vaccine types)
• Rabies virus (classical rabies and rabies-related lyssaviruses)
• Rickettsia spp
• Rift Valley fever virus
• Rubella virus
• Sabia virus
• Salmonella spp
• SARS coronavirus
• Shigella spp
• Streptococcus pneumoniae (invasive)
• Streptococcus pyogenes (invasive)
• Varicella zoster virus
• Variola virus
• Verocytotoxigenic Escherichia coli (including E.coli O157)
• Vibrio cholerae
• West Nile Virus
• Yellow fever virus
• Yersinia pestis